Ghosts Aren't Always Evil
by VampireQueen21
Summary: SN XO DeanLiz. Dean and Sam have been hunting for years, but they come across a kind of spirit that they have never encountered before one that’s not evil, and their very angry living friend.
1. Prologue

Title: Ghost's Aren't Always Evil

Author: Dez/Jezebel Jinx/VampireQueen21

Rating: Teen-light Mature

Couple: Dean/Liz

XO: Supernatural/Roswell

Summary: Dean and Sam have been hunting for years, but they come across a kind of spirit that they have never encountered before one that's not evil, and their very angry living friend.

Disclaimer: I own nothing, I swear to you. Although I wouldn't mind owning Dean for a while if not forever. But I promise I will give them back relatively unharmed.

Setting: Sometime during Season 1 of Supernatural and five years after Season 2 of Roswell.

Note: Since I'm just testing the waters on how well I can write Supernatural XO's this isn't going to be a very long fic. However I'm sure I'll have longer SN XO's later on, in fact I have one in the works right now that's going to be a long fic, but since this is my first more than a one-shot SN XO I don't want to get into a big long story. In other words I'm playing around to see what works for me and what doesn't work.

**Prologue**

Dean and Sam Winchester cautiously tread through the thick woods following a ghostly apparition, they'd been on her trail for a few months now. The spirit had done a number of malicious acts but there were times when all the spirit would do was play with the people of the near by town with tourists.

Although this ghost was one of the many they encountered both brothers' couldn't help the instant flood of excitement that flowed through their bodies. Since arriving in the woods, where most of the sightings took place, they'd been tracking the spirit, so far it hadn't turned around but the brothers knew it knew they were there. The ghost was playing with them.

Abruptly Dean stopped causing Sam to crash against his back. "Do you mind not backing into me?" Sam hissed.

"I didn't back you forwarded, now shut up. It just went into that cabin." Dean pointed straight ahead he would have continued but the cocking back of a gun hammer effectively cut off any further talking.

"She doesn't like being called 'it'." Slowly the two brothers turn around to face an angry young woman steadily holding a revolver, aiming it right at Sam's chest. "Mind telling me what you think you're doing on my property?"

"Why don't you put the gun away and we can have a nice calm discussion." The shorter one of the two gave a nervous smile and raised his hands up in a non-threatening manner.

Snorting she shook her head negatively. "Not a chance. Last time before I shoot you, what are you doing on my property chasing after her?"

"Like you could get off two shots before I'm over there wrestling you to the ground." He could tell that she didn't like his condescending attitude toward her, he realized it probably wasn't the best thing with her having the gun and everything but what else could he do.

"Somehow," She reached behind her pulling out a 9mm from the holster strapped to her back and cradled it expertly in a firm grip, "I don't think I'm going to have a problem shooting you both."

The taller younger one of the two spoke. "Listen, we're hunters, we were tracking the ghost. Do you know who it is?" The woman didn't even get a chance to tell them anything when a gust of wind rushed by the trio whipping their jackets everywhere.

"Told you she doesn't like being called an 'it'. She has a name you know," chuckling at her friends antics. Against her better judgment she put away her guns wrapping her leather jacket around herself keeping the wind away. "Come on Maria, stop, it's freezing out here already we don't need the wind machine goin'."

As quickly as it started it stopped. "Thank you." She ran her fingers through her hair taming it after the dance it was put through.

"I can honestly say that's never happened to us before. You know the ghost?" Sam questioned the strange girl. None of this was making sense to him, normal people didn't converse with ghosts and the ghosts normally didn't listen to the living all that well.

Rolling her eyes the woman pushed between the brothers and instant flare passed through her and the smart-ass, "Let's go inside and talk, it'd be a lot more comfortable in there then out here." She hurried up to her front door.

"Wait, what's your name?" Sam yelled as he and Dean jog to catch up.

She turned around but continued to walk backwards toward the cabin, "Elizabeth, but everyone calls me Liz."

TBC


	2. Chapter 1

A.N. Don't worry you'll find out why Liz is living on her own out in the middle of the woods and what happened to the others. All this will start to be revealed in Chapter 2.

**Chapter 1**

Yawning Liz rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, tired as hell she wanted to go back to bed, but she had two irritants wanting answers. They said they're hunters, but the two guys seem more like tourists wanting the thrill of seeing a real ghost, although both gave off this aura of complete true confidence that she didn't normally see with guys in their 20's, the older and more rugged looking one more so.

Liz reached for the door handle, curling her hand around the golden knob she turned and pushed it open but instantly it closed again. Not again, Maria always liked playing this game when people stopped by the cabin, on a normal day or night Liz found it amusing as well; it was a great way to scare people from ever coming back. However tonight it was rubbing on her last nerve.

"Maria, please stop for tonight I'm tired sweetie." Liz begged her spirit best friend. Again she pushed open the door this time with success, no ghost shutting it, or freaky wind blowing past them. "So are you guys going to tell me your names or what? I assume your names aren't Bevis and Butthead."

"Well, I'm Dean and this is Sam. And if I can ask what the Hell are you doing making friendly chats with a ghost? All the ghosts we've come in contact with aren't exactly the nicest of Casper's." He stared at her, eyebrows raised.

She held the door open and closed it when the brothers were fully inside her warm cabin. From the outside the cabin didn't look spacious, being surrounded by trees didn't help making it appear bigger. Inside however was a different story. The living room seemed larger than what the outside impression would suggest.

Various types of woods from light to dark were everywhere, a roaring fire crackled in the stone fireplace. The cabin was homey; Dean felt like he did when he was in his car, like nothing could get to him. A guitar rested in the corner next to her dark red covered couch, he saw female touches everywhere from the drapes to the tray of lotions on the coffee table and no obvious male influence. That meant one of two things, there was no man or the man that lived there was gay.

"Maybe you haven't been going to the right spirit stores. There are plenty of nice spirits ready to go home with the living of their choice." She sarcastically shot back. Coughing uncomfortably Liz shrugged off her coat after shutting the door behind Dean and Sam. "Maria's my best friend."

"How does that happen? Wait; let me guess you always point guns in people's faces when you stumble across them walking around the woods, so the only companionship you can get was a dead girl?" Again he smirked at her; he really wanted to get a fist in the face didn't he? Fortunately Sam kicked him in the shin, effectively shutting him up but earning a glare.

Without warning Dean felt a pinch on his side, "Ow, what the…? Did your ghost friend just pinch me?" He held his stinging side.

"Yep. Now back to your previous question, when people are stumbling around in the woods no, but when they're chasing after my friend I get kind of pissed." Liz angrily draped her jacket over her loveseat as she stalked into her kitchen. While she began to make her coffee she stared at the two men in her home standing nervously and taking quick glances around the room searching for any signs of the ghost Liz called Maria.

The taller one, Sam, was obviously the younger of the two. In the blackened night his hair was more midnight but now that she saw him bathed in fake glow it's more of brown, lighter than her own color. His eyes were almost but not quite hidden behind that full head of hair a few strands catching in his eyelashes. Sam was dressed in baggy black jeans that have seen better days, an old army type dark green jacket with a blue shirt underneath, and Docs finishing off his ensemble.

Dean, what could she say about him, he's cocky, thought he's God-gift to women, and didn't seem to like women taking charge. Oh, yea he made a fantastic first impression, although she did have to admit that she wouldn't mind taking a few rides with Dean as the horse. Hey, she may be an angry woman with no time for a real relationship but even she could see the screw potential of Dean.

He had that smirk that made you want to lick his lips with your tongue. Not to mention that jaw with its five o'clock shadow peeking through was made for nibbling on. Liz scanned down the rest of his body, leather jacket left open showing off his abs that even under that gray cotton t-shirt you could count how many 'packs' he had, a yummy 6. Next were his dark blue baggy jeans that only added to his gorgeousness and then Doc's the same as Sam's.

The microwave dinged signaling her water was heated, she punched the button on the micro opening the machine. Steam flowed up and out of the cup clearing up her sinuses as she breathed in, without thinking she started making her coffee the actions as natural as breathing. Coffee had become her other friend during this whole year on her own, well on her own except for Maria.

"Aren't you going to offer us anything?" Dean questioned again with a smirk on his lips after Liz exited the kitchen and returned to the living room taking a seat in front of them.

Liz pretended to think about it for a moment, "Nope." She blew on the steaming liquid cooling it down enough where it wouldn't burn her throat as it slid down. "Now, maybe you can tell me why you were on my property hunting my friend?"

Sam sat on the couch across from Liz, "Like I said before we're hunters, we've been hunting supernatural beings since we were kids. Dean read a newspaper…"

"He can read…wow!" Liz sarcastically commented causing Dean to give an irritated chuckle.

"Occasionally." Sam couldn't resist getting a dig in as well.

"Hey, you know I'm feeling a bunch of hostility pointed in my direction. Can we maybe get back to the topic at hand like why you seem to be buddy-buddy with a ghost that's been terrorizing the near by town?" He tended to get frustrated when he's the butt of everyone's jokes.

Liz leaned forward softly placing her coffee cup on her table. "Excuse me? Maria hasn't done anything of the sort. She's not malicious." She rested her elbows on her knees glaring at Dean.

"Well that's not what we read or heard from the locals. Casper has been electrocuting old ladies in their bathtubs, scaring children by shaking their beds at night, and breaking windows all over town." He glared right back at the feisty brunette.

Shaking her head she gazed up at the ceiling praying for patience. "And you know this is Maria how? I'll admit she goes into town but it's not to hurt, kill or scare people. She plays pranks on the local population. What the hell else is she supposed to do? It's not like she can go to the mall and date."

Sam rose his hand between Dean and Liz their arguing beginning to rage out of control. "All right, listen before we start jumping to conclusions and attacking each other why don't you tell us how Maria died."

Sending one last glare to Dean she shrugged her shoulders and leaned back in the chair. "Fine."

She'd never had to explain Maria's death to anybody, there wasn't anyone left alive or on the planet that knew Maria well if at all. So no one asked and when Liz occasionally met new people it wasn't great to start a conversation with her best friend was dead and was haunting her cabin and the woods around said cabin. No one to explain her death to was how she liked it, everyone would think she was crazy…er, being a single girl living all the way out here in the woods made some people look at her a little weird. Every time Liz thought about Maria's death her heart ached and that's a feeling she'd happily avoid.

Now that there were two guys in her cabin wanting answers could she do this without breaking down in tears? Yes, Maria was there but she's not i_there/i _there, it wasn't the same, it'd never be the same again. Sam and even Dean with all his sarcastic comments seemed like they were really good listeners. Biting her lower lip she took a deep breath and mentally prepared herself to tell the long story.

"This is going to be a long story, so I suggest you lean back and get comfortable. I'll get you guys some coffee." Liz told them rising from the loveseat making her way towards the kitchen again, she waited for the hot water to ding from the microwave, offering them coffee was the least she could do, they were bound to be there for a few hours.

A few moments later she came back with their coffee; she got comfortable again on her large comfy chair. "Before I explain her death I need to start four years before she died, if I don't I'm sure you'll be lost and asking a lot of questions that could have been covered in the beginning chapters of this tale. First off, aliens are real…"

TBC


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Being hunters for years must have weakened the shock of finding out aliens were real but its still gotta be a surprise to Sam and Dean. "Aliens are real? Can't say I'm all in shock, if demons, ghost, and other creatures that go bump in the night are real why not little green men with probes." Dean shrugged his shoulders and turned back to Liz.

"When I was sixteen there were these two men at a booth in the diner I worked at and my parents owned, in Roswell, New Mexico. They were arguing and one of them pulled a gun out, he shot two bullets and one hit me in the gut. I almost died," No reason to tell them that she technically was dead, no reason to tell them that while she was dying she was lost in a sea of blackness and it felt like she was drowning. "But Max Evans, a boy who went to my high school, saved my life by placing his hand over my stomach.

"After bringing me back, he ran out of the restaurant with his best friend, Michael Guerin. There were two tourists there and they told the Sheriff that a kid, Max, had come up to me and did something to me while standing over me. Later they looked around for the second bullet but couldn't find the hole where it should have disappeared into." She took a deep breath.

"So he didn't explain what he had just done he just ran away?" Sam questioned, he didn't like that one bit, he could understand wanting to protect their secret but couldn't the guy just make up a story like he was helping her up. Maybe Liz had fallen and was knocked unconscious anything except running away.

Liz shook her head negatively, it scared her when Max ran away, he had just done something to her body and fled. "I cornered Max at school the next day, I needed to know what he had done, what he was. Everything I could come up with never made any sense, basically he told me he 'wasn't of this Earth' and he was apart of the 1947 crash. Told me that Michael and Isabel were also aliens."

"I always wondered if that was really a weather balloon." Dean shook his head. "What were their powers besides being able to save lives?" Dean had no clue why he felt relief at that being one of the alien's powers, all he knew was that when Liz said she had been shot in the gut he felt like he was too. What kind of freaky mojo was this, he didn't care about anybody except his family, Liz didn't count as family, he was damn happy about that too.

Liz licked her lips and caught Dean close his eyes and swallow hard, i_well that's interesting_./i Ever since Maria died she hadn't thought much about dating or being with a guy. Even after Max left the planet she still had the desire to date, although not as often, she still had the want to be with a guy. After Maria…it was her last priority.

"Well they all had the power to change molecular structures, to change shape, dissolve things, whatever. However they also had their own individual powers, Max could heal, Michael had power blasts, Isabel, Max's older sister, could dreamwalk, which is basically walking into peoples dreams, and Tess could mindwarp people."

Before either brother could ask whom Tess was Liz cut them off. "Tess will come in later, she's kind of crucial to the story. Over the next few months after Max told me Maria was told and then Alex Whitman, my other best friend." When Alex died it was so hard to think about the happy memories, all she could think about was his death and the awful way he went, when she first thought it was a car accident and then when she found out different.

Now that five years had past she could look back and remember all the good times she had with both her friends. She still got misty eyed but who wouldn't, Maria and Alex were the two most wonderful best friends a girl could ask for, and she only hoped they thought the same of her.

"It was close to the end of the school year when Tess Harding showed up. Isabel became close to her, Max was intrigued by her, he told me that he couldn't figure out why he was attracted to her but later it was found out that she was an alien like they were. But I'm sure her being a beautiful blonde, with a figure many women would kill for had something to do with it." There wasn't a bit of bitterness in her tone just mild amusement.

"After she revealed herself as an alien she also told Max, Michael, and Isabel about Nasedo an alien that was sent with them to protect them. Before Tess came there really wasn't a whole lot of activity, yes there were FBI agents and an alien hunter, but compared to what happened after Tess and Nasedo showed up it was nothing." Her voice cracked a little the pain of that year after Tess arrived rose inside her, she couldn't believe she didn't get a chance to rip every last blonde hair out of her head. Wait she's getting ahead of herself, other things came before that.

Coughing passed the lump in throat she straightened her spine and continued, "Sheriff Valenti, who previously had been trying to expose Max, became a great ally against evil aliens, FBI agents, you name it he was there. One afternoon while Max was finding out more information about Tess and who he, Isabel and Michael were Nasedo came to see me, but he was a shapeshifter so he showed up as Max. Told me he wanted to be alone with me and spend time with me.

"While we were on the road he pulled over and we started to make out but in a few seconds I knew it wasn't Max. With Max I got flashes when we kissed, memories from his former life and memories from this one, but with Nasedo all I saw was darkness," that sea of blackness, at first Liz thought she was dying again but thankfully that was only for a second. "After I pulled away we went on the road again. Again we pulled over, this time at a gas station, he blew up by leaving a 'mark' on a pump, later we pulled over again and this time he pulled a dead body out of the trunk leaving him on the road."

Dean and Sam could hardly believe any of this, but with Liz's emotions playing clearly across her face and the knowledge of what they themselves deal with on a daily basis completely ingrained in their minds they knew everything she was saying was damn possible. Dean stared at Liz and wanted so badly to take her into his arms and hold her till her hurt left, but Sam sitting right next to him stamped down that want.

"At that time Max, the real one, called me on my cell phone, Nasedo took the phone from me and said 'Now you know'." Just that one sentence still sent a cold shiver up her spine, after he got whatever he wanted from her he would kill her. Nasedo's voice was so hard and cold; he didn't care about her or anybody except the royal four; he wouldn't bat an eyelash at disposing of her.

While Liz was getting closer and closer to the end of her story Sam noticed Liz's hair fluttering, but there wasn't any wind blowing through the house. Then the long chestnut tresses were brought up and were being braided right in front of his eyes, this was out of this world, never in all the years of being a hunter had he seen a ghost braid someone's hair. Gusts of wind, sure. Choking someone one with his or her hair, definitely. But braiding of the hair, never.

"Nasedo took me to the fair, leaving signals for an FBI agent and incidentally the Pod Squad…"

"Pod Squad?" Dean questioned, that was a weird term.

"Uh, yea, that's what Maria took to calling the aliens because they were hatched, we called them lots of names but the two main ones were Pod Squad and Czechoslovakians, the Czechs came from when Alex, who didn't know at the time had overheard some of the alien related things we were talking about." Liz explained to the brothers

"Clever." Sam simply stated and he wasn't being sarcastic either, if he really thought about it was a good idea. The fake name thing was a classic way to hide what someone was talking about even if the conversation was taking place out in the open.

Maria's ghost stroked her hair then continued to braid the long strands of dark hair. "The Pod Squad arrived at the fair and instead of Nasedo getting caught, Max was. He was brought to a base and tortured for hours until The Pod Squad and later Sheriff Valenti managed to help break him out, it was then that he found out what exactly Max and the others were. Later Agent Pierce, he, in order to access Valenti's personals files posed as a deputy, and was the one to torture Max, went after Jim's son, he wanted to draw Jim out and get him to give up the aliens."

"We kidnapped him, trying to get a whole bunch of information out of him but he wouldn't corporate." It wasn't like any of them actually believed he would but they had to give it a shot. "After a brief meeting Kyle, the Sheriff's son, got involved, saw who he thought to be one of his father's deputies tied to a chair. Gave him a gun he took from his father's gun cabinet, basically he was shot in the chest by the Sheriff unknowingly, he was behind a screen, and Max saved his life…after Valenti literally had to beg him too."

That still always rubbed her the wrong way, how could Max at one point selflessly sacrifice everything he had for her but then for Kyle have to wait for Valenti to beg before he even made a move toward helping Kyle. It was then that she began to view Max in a different light, not enough to stop loving him, but enough to stop and think.

Seeing the brother's slightly confused faces she remembered a part a rather important part that she forgot. "While Kyle was untying Pierce, the Sheriff and Michael were leaving a back room. Pierce seeing his chance stood and Valenti was trying to grab his gun but Michael could tell Jim would have been late to stop Pierce from killing him dead. So in order to help Jim he blasted the Agent with his powers through the screen at that point Jim pulled his gun and began to shoot at the flying Agent. That was how Kyle got shot. And with the combined efforts of Michael and Jim, Pierce was dead."

"The Pod Squad decided to go to the cave that they had been hatched in and orbs that we had found earlier in the year came into play then, wanting to be with Max I went with them. These orbs relayed a message from Max and Isabel's biological mother, the message said that Max was the King, Isabel was the Princess, Tess was the Queen, and Michael was the second in command and Isabel's betrothed. Their essences had been mixed with human DNA, their planet was at war and they were sent to Earth to grow up and one-day return to their original planet to save their people.

"Hearing that I basically freaked out and ran out on Max, not being able to deal with the situation. After I left the desert I told my parents I was going to spend the summer with my Aunt in Florida, I left the next day." Of course that wasn't the whole story, on her way out of the desert she ran into Nasedo who had stayed behind for a brief while to make sure the Royal Four were all right. Instead he got her running directly into him and dirtying up his fancy suit, he acted like he couldn't just wave his hand and make the dirt disappear.

That afternoon Nasedo, who looked extra dangerous because of his Pierce persona threatened her life if she ever spoke of the Royal Four to anybody, he didn't trust humans never had and never would. He told her that her race was a weak race and he was surprised we hadn't been taken over by now, she had been so physically, mentally, and emotional drained that she didn't even bother to argue with him, she simply turned on heel and left. However that didn't stop him from yelling out to her that by walking away she was proving to him that she and her race weren't strong enough to handle what was out there in the universe.

Even as she trekked back to the quiet town she knew that she was strong enough to handle what was out there in the universe, but just because she was didn't mean she had to handle it. This wasn't her problem to handle, as cold as that sounded it got her through those two hours of walking, it was at that time she began her slow process of pulling away from the Pod Squad.

TBC


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Liz subtly glanced at the clock hanging on the wall; it took her almost a half an hour to explain that first year as a part of the alien abyss. Taking a deep breath she continued the story of her life wanting to get this over with as quickly as possible.

"After coming back from Florida I was ready to accept that Max and Tess belonged together. Still loved Max of course can't exactly make those feelings go away as fast as you want them too." She pressed her lips closed, she didn't mean to say that last part out loud but she couldn't take it back now. "Umm, anyway with Agent Pierce dead they had to put the bones somewhere. Jim, Max, and Michael buried the bones and lit fire to his clothes and personal belongings about three months previously."

"Unfortunately a Geologists found the bones and noticed that they were bound together. Something so hot had melted the bones but it was only in one area. So he took it the Sheriff's station. An investigation was launched; it would have seemed odd if Valenti hadn't done an investigation. Hanson, one of the deputies, found Michael's pocketknife he was brought in for questioning but then was released thanks to Valenti."

Sam raised his hand interrupting the story. He didn't want to stop, Liz had kept him riveted to say the least telling her past experiences but this couldn't wait. "Sorry, where's your restroom?" For the past ten minutes he'd been holding it, well he could no longer.

Smirking Liz told him. "Down the hall, second door on the right." She directed. A few moments ago Maria stopped braiding her hair having finished. As soon as Sam left the room it became painfully clear that she and Dean were officially alone. Even Maria left, Liz couldn't feel her presence in the living room anymore, was Maria trying to tell her something?

"So, having your very own ghost…that's got to be cool." Dean lamely stated oh yea that was just brilliant; Liz was going to think that he's a complete idiot. Where the hell had his natural ease with women gone, why did it have to abandon him when he was around Liz?

A laughing smirk broke out on her face. "Well she's not exactly mine. Maria is free to go wherever she wants. Right now she prefers to stay here with me." Although the fact that there wasn't anybody else she could really go be with…at least when it came to the living was a rather good reason too.

"Shouldn't she have moved on by now? Many ghosts, they haven't moved on because there is something either holding them here or they still need to do something they didn't get too while alive." Dean wasn't about to tell her that he thought she might be at least part of the reason that Maria was still milling around. It didn't seem Liz had been able to let go of her dead friend.

Liz shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know, she can't exactly talk to me. Mostly I get feelings, she'll pass through me and I'll get a little bit of what she wants to tell me. When she gets enough power she can write." She clued in on one of the reasons he didn't say of why Maria was sticking around. Could Maria still be there because Liz refused to fully accept that she was dead?

Sam flushed the toilet, left the seat up and began to wash his hands. He turned the water off and found the towel he saw only two seconds ago on the rack next to him floating in the air next to his head. His heart raced unsure of what to do, there was a wave of frustration thrust at him and the towel shook as if to say 'here take it'.

Not wanting to piss the spirit off he took the towel, wiped his hands, and put it back on the rack. He turned around to leave the room when from behind him the toilet seat was put down with a loud thud. Quickly he whirled around not seeing Maria. "Ok, this is new." He swallowed hard.

The haunted bathroom made him uneasy and he left as fast as his legs could carry him. Hurrying back to the couch Sam fiddled with his jeans.

"What the hell has gotten into you Sammy?" Dean stared at him peculiarly.

"Maria was in the bathroom with me and she just—it was weird." Sam admitted.

Liz questioned the younger of the two, "Umm, huh? What did Maria do that has you so…jumpy? I thought you and Dean were hunters of things that go bump in the night."

"Yes but most ghosts don't float a towel for you and put the seat down after you're done."

"True most don't. But you're acting scared over a floating towel? Maria's done that a lot for me. She's being nice. And the putting the seat down thing, well, she's never liked it when a guy didn't put it down. One time her cousin Sean was visiting and didn't put the seat back down, she had to use the bathroom late in the night didn't turn on the light and fell in. Even has a spirit she has issues with that."

A little cold Liz wrapped a nearby blanket wrapping it around her body. "You ready to hear the rest of how Maria came to haunt my cabin?"

"Ready whenever you are." She felt there was more to that sentence Dean tossed her way.

"I'm always ready." Liz threw back settling into her seat and started the tale that was her life again. A part of her was amazed that it'd only been seven years since this whole mess started, it felt more like a lifetime.

TBC


	5. Chapter 4

Italics mean Maria is "talking".

**Chapter 4 **

"When I returned from my summer away I applied for a job with Congress Woman Whittaker. At first it seemed like the perfect way to get away from the Pod Squad drama. Working at my father's restaurant would have placed me right in the center of alien drama, that's where the group had meetings, ate, basically hung out." Liz explained. Why they chose an alien themed restaurant that got a lot of tourists year round for their meeting place she'd never figure out.

"Wait, I thought they were trying to keep their existence a secret? Wouldn't talking about it out in public defeat the purpose of that?" Dean felt a warm pat on his shoulders, turned around but there was nothing there. Had to be Maria—what was she doing trying to cop a feel? A smug smirk crept onto his lips, oh yea, he's so hot even ghosts are trying to get with him.

She saw his smirk and wondered why he got that expression. "Ah, valid question. One I never got the answer to. There were a lot more remote place to have discussions but they seemed to find the restaurant—homey." She joked.

A moment later she breathed in deeply, Maria had passed through her. _Solid muscle sweetie. Jump him._ What?! Did she feel him up? _Yes, I did, gotta have some kicks._ And just like that her friend had left her body, she couldn't stay for a long time, the longest she'd managed to hang in her body was a minute. It felt a little weird sometimes, like being tickled on the inside everywhere at once. After a body-sharing experience Maria wasn't heard from for almost an hour.

"Umm, where was I?" Yes, okay, Maria letting her in on Dean's muscled body distracted her a bit, granted, she'd already got a hint of what lay beneath his leather jacket when she saw a hint of abs but now she had confirmation. Gave her a lot of fun images to occupy her mind with. But now was not the time for naked Dean fantasies. Dammit Maria—she had to give her the launching bad for naughty, naughty sex daydreams.

"Congress Woman Whittaker." Sam helpfully told her.

"Right, so I got a job there. After my interview there was a party at my parent's restaurant that my friends were having so since I lived above the restaurant it'd be kinda stupid for me not to attend the party. That night Nasedo was killed by what he called Skins. We knew nothing about them except they shed and within a few minutes of being off the body the skin disintegrates."

"That's gross." Dean stated. He recalled the Shapeshifter they had encountered six months ago and if was anything like that—he grimaced.

Liz shrugged. "It wasn't that bad, all it was, was this dry, crispy thing."

"Don't mind Dean, he's a big pansy when it comes to blood and guts." Sam rested a hand on his shoulder pretending to be comforting.

"If I recall right _Samantha_ you barfed the first time you cut yourself and saw the blood leaking out." Dean shot back, no way would he let Sam get away with making him seem like a pussy.

"Yep, you guys are definitely brothers." Liz muttered.

"As you can see I got all the good looks. Sam over here just hit every branch on the ugly tree."

Sam smacked him upside the head and it was on. Within seconds Dean had his brother in a headlock. Liz watched with fascination as Sam turned the both of them around so their butts were facing her. Both had nice asses, really nice. Back in high school she and Maria prided themselves on knowing who had the great butts and who had the awful butts. At times it required an up close inspection where they had to be covert and stealthily cop a feel.

The brothers had forgotten that she was even in the room, but that was all right with her. Gave her a few moments to bask in the hilarity occurring in front of her. Sam to get out of the headlock lifted Dean up enough to bring them both down on her coffee table. There went her coffee—all over her floor.

Once they felt the splintered wood on their backs they snapped out of their mindset of trying to up the other. "Oh shit." Dean and Sam shuffled up onto their feet to face—

"Why are you laughing?" Dean questioned. Here he and brother were asses and broke this girl's table and spilt her coffee all over her carpet. Why wasn't she kicking them out demanding to be paid for the broken and stained things?

Liz took a labored breath, trying her best to swallow her laughter but it was impossible. Dean's expression was one of utter confusion that looked adorable and Sam kept scratching his head like he had lice or something. She hoped he didn't have lice she'd have to bomb the whole cabin.

Finally she got her laughter under control and let them in on why she wasn't killing them for ruining her table. "First off, this is the funniest thing I've watched in a while. And two don't worry about the table or the stained rug or my broken family heirloom."

"That was an heirloom?" Dean cringed. She's never letting him into her pants now.

"Yea, but like I said don't worry." She stood up, draped the blanket back over her chair and waved a hand over the damaged table. Instantly it was back to normal, she waved her hand over the stain and broken coffee cup. They too returned to the way they were before Dean and Sam destroyed them.

"What the hell was that?" Sam managed to get out passed his shock.

"Haven't told you everything yet. Wanna sit down so I can get to the part where I'm a little different too?" Liz asked guiltily, here she was telling them about aliens and she hadn't let them in on the fact that she was changed herself.

"That would be good." Dean sat in shock.

She sat back down and wrapped the blanket around her again, "I'll just start from where I left off and then eventually we'll get to me." Instead of waiting for them to agree she started in. "After Nasedo died, Tess went to live with Sheriff Valenti and Kyle. A week later it was Isabel's birthday, I had found out that Congress Woman was recording my conversations. Meanwhile Isabel kept getting flashes of Tess in trouble so she left to find her."

"Turns out Tess was kidnapped by Whittaker, that's when we found out the Congress Woman wasn't exactly of the human variety. She was a Skin. After Isabel saved Tess, she was different." She and Isabel had never been the best friends but she could see the change that had happened. Whatever Whittaker said to her hit something inside of Isabel that changed how she looked at herself and her actions.

When Max came back to the Crashdown to that night to tell everyone the birthday girl had a touch of the flu and wouldn't be coming back to the party he filled her, Alex, and Kyle in on what transpired that night. Or at least what little he knew, since Isabel hadn't even let Max know of everything that had happened, as dense as he could be he saw that she hid information from him about Whittaker.

"A bit later Michael found out important information about their crash landing on this planet. He met a man named Captain Hal Carver who had helped him before he hatched. Hal told him that there had been eight pods original as opposed to the four that they thought. So now he and the others knew there were more of them out there."

"So are you one of those other four?" Dean spoke slowly and carefully, not sure how she'd react to being asked.

"No. Absolutely not. I'll tell you about the others soon. Trust me it's interesting." Michael told Maria about his talk with Carver, needing a person to talk to she came to her. Told her everything that Michael told her. That was how she got a lot of her information, Maria would tell her stuff about Michael, Max would tell her stuff about Isabel, Tess, and Michael. She seemed to be the go to girl for telling things too.

"Then my world changed, more so than it had. Max from the future came back to the year 2000 to get me to get him to fall out of love with me. Confused? Well that's only the beginning."

TBC


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5 **

"So now not only are there aliens…but they can now time travel? Great." Dean blew breath out and his lips vibrated making a sound that conveyed the idea of 'what can happen next?'.

"Not anymore, at least not with the Granolith but I'm getting ahead of myself." Liz almost copied Dean's previous lip motion but stopped herself. Instead she sighed; she reached for her coffee cup but remembered that there was no more coffee in the mug. Liz stood up and walked into the kitchen and continued to talk.

Sam squinted his eyes in confusion. "Granolith?"

"Yea, it was in the aliens Pod Chamber, which was where they were hatched. Isabel found it; it can be used for time travel, a space ship, a weapon, and a communicator. Other than that though I know nothing about it, except certain aliens wanted it bad enough to kill for."

"Future Max went back in time to make sure I fell out of love with him," this would be an edited version of the tale, no need to have Dean and Sam know that was the night they were supposed to sleep together and become forever bonded. "Basically it would have been around that time that he and I got closer, in turn pushing Tess away."

She put the cup in the microwave-while she had the alien powers she still did things the normal way. It was a rarity that she used the abilities except to fix things.

"At that time I had not listened to my head, instead I listened to my heart and was getting closer to Max again. I first thought FMax was a Skin, but he predicted enough things to happen that it was hard to argue that it wasn't the real Max. Anyway according to him because we became closer the world goes to shit in fourteen years." She smirked shaking her head; it was difficult for her to imagine that so much had gone bad because of a few little things.

"That's got to be a heavy burden to place on somebody." Sam stared at her with sympathy and puppy dog eyes that she was sure got him anything he wanted.

"Apparently Tess was needed in the group dynamic, her powers were what made their unit complete, powerful. In order to achieve the desired effect of Max turning away from me and to Tess I pretended to sleep with a former boyfriend of mine, Kyle. At the time he wasn't my boyfriend anymore but we were moving toward a friendship again." Kyle, sweet, funny, sarcastic Kyle. She turned away from the brothers and concentrated on the task in front of her.

All of her friend's deaths hit her in different ways, with Alex it was mind numbing denial. No, he couldn't have been killed not Alex, not her best friend. With Maria, as sad as it had been, it was also a relief. When she died that pain her friend's body felt was finally over. And with Kyle, her self appointed protector, her friend, the last of her living friends, nothing but anger and terror. Anger at whom had killed him; anger that she couldn't save him, and terrified because she was alone in the world. For the first time she didn't have anybody to turn to, not one person.

Able to keep her emotions in check she faced the brothers again. "It worked, Max turned away and eventually found his way to Tess." Which opened up a whole different can of worms that couldn't be closed again.

"FMax disappeared since his present didn't exist any longer. Over the next month Max avoided me except to say that he didn't believe I slept with Kyle, then when I'd tell him I did he'd look at me with disgust and leave." She shrugged like it hadn't cut her heart open every time she saw Max look at her with disappointment and revulsion.

"We had a run in with a whole town of Skins, Michael destroyed the new husks that they were growing and the Skins came to Roswell. Made the entire population of Roswell disappear, except for the few, Maria, Kyle, Jim, and myself, that were outside the city limits, but as we were inside the city longer we disappeared one by one."

"Do you know what happened to you while you disappeared?" Dean asked.

"No. It was like blacking out." It hadn't been the same darkness she swam in when she was shot or the same darkness she felt when she kissed Nasedo in Max form. The sensation was different, not cold or empty, there had been a feeling of a bunch of people around, but she couldn't talk or see them.

"Later we had all come back, for some people they didn't remember anything, like Alex, he said he didn't remember, neither did Maria. Kyle and I though we had the feeling of being passed out but not. We felt things, felt people around but couldn't interact." Maybe it had something to do with the fact they were different than other people, they had both been healed by aliens, where as Maria and Alex hadn't been.

"Michael told Maria who told me what Tess did to get rid of the Skins. A wall of fire destroyed them and supposedly they were all gone." Never to be seen again…unfortunately that hadn't been the case. "At the end of November we came face to face with the duplicates of Michael, Tess, and Isabel. Max's double had been killed before they showed up in Roswell. These were the four others that Hal told Michael about."

Liz finally left the kitchen and sat back on her chair curling under the blanket again. She had that blanket since she was a little girl. Grandma Claudia got it for her at a Reservation; it brought back a lot of happy memories with her parents cuddled between them watching movies together.

"There had been a message sent from the leaders of the other planets that surrounded Antar. They called a meeting and wanted Max to be there. From what Max told me later they had possessed people from all over and used their bodies to sit at the meeting."

"That's bad manners." Dean quipped. "If you're going to possess someone than the nice thing to do would be to ask."

"Gotta agree with you there." Liz nodded.

"Hmm, I wonder if I've ever been abducted by an alien?" Dean thought back.

"What are you talking about man? You're possessed right now. No way can you be an Earthling." Sam shot back, the sibling rivalry flaring strongly between them.

Before it got out of hand Liz rose her hand up and in a loud voice said, "Whoa! Do not need another round of 'ruining the coffee table'. Once was enough." Both boys lowered their eyes in shame, embarrassed that the bickering got to such a high level in front of a virtual stranger.

"Sorry." Dean mumbled.

"Anyway Max and Tess left for New York, which was where this meeting was taking place and Isabel and Michael stayed in Roswell. Lonnie and Rath, Michael and Isabel's dupes, tricked Max into agreeing to go to New York. Ava, Tess's dupe, stayed in Roswell too, after I found her sleeping in the alley way behind my parents restaurant I let her sleep downstairs in the breakroom."

She missed Ava, as far as she knew the girl was still alive but she hadn't heard from her since she left Roswell. "Later that night after a nightmare she had she revealed that Lonnie and Rath killed Zan, Max's dupe. Than Ava told me that since Max had healed me that I was different, unfortunately she never explained to me anything more."

"During this whole time Max and Tess are going to the meeting. Nickolas, the Skins leader, was there. Now everyone thought he had been killed previously but he got away. He said that Kivar, the new leader of Antar and enemy to the Royal Four, would grant peace if and only if Max gave them the location of the Granolith and if Max returned than he would be King in name only, all decisions would be made by Kivar. Max refused-I'd told him before he left that the Granolith was important and to not give it to anybody."

"How did you know?" Was she also a clairvoyant on top of everything else, Dean thought.

"FMax mentioned it to me when he was there and I listened. Good thing I did too because if they wanted it that bad, it had to been something powerful that they could have used to their advantage." She took a sip of her coffee. The caffeine was finally kicking in; she could feel the buzz in her head and body of energy gearing up.

"When Max wouldn't give up the Granolith Lonnie and Rath tried to kill him, that was when my powers started to show up. It was very little; I had to have Isabel help me to make sure I could reach Max to warn him about Rath and Lonnie. He saw me motion him forward and started walking toward me, the dupes took Tess and left her unconscious in the sewers. Shortly after that they came home." She looked at their coffee cups, the only drank a little.

"Here let me heat up your coffee." Instead of trying it the alien way she did it the human way. Every once in a while she tried to heat up beverages, food, etc but she always melted whatever she was trying to heat. She had yet to figure out how to control that power and to be honest she didn't really want to try.

TBC


	7. Chapter 6

**Warning:** Even though the Tess character has grown on me and I like her, in this story she did kill Alex so don't expect any love from Liz in regards to her.

**Chapter 6**

Once Liz returned from the kitchen and gave them back their drinks she continued the story. Told them everything from Christmas time to when they went to Vegas unbeknownst to all their parents. "When I got home there was major hell to pay-sort of. Mom yelled at me demanded to know why I was insane enough to go along with it. While Dad couldn't keep the smile off his face." Got grounded for a few weeks, thankfully the punishment was lifted before Prom.

She really hadn't meant to tell them all of what happened to them, but once she got going it was hard to stop and there were still more stories to tell. "Then Prom came around, Max and I were on shaky footing but we decided to go together, a big mistake. He and Tess got serious that night, they kissed and began to get much closer."

"So wait, he took you to the Prom but then started making out with another girl?" Sam questioned. He'd never have done that to a girl-Dean sure but he's a major player.

"Yea, but to be fair I told Max before hand some things that-that probably helped him move on more. Maria and I spent almost an hour dancing," she smiled and stared at the floor remembering that happy moment, the last happy moment for quite a while.

"Anyway I saw Max and Tess then left Prom. Broke into the bowling alley and unwound with Maria's cousin, Sean." She didn't elaborate…who cared if they thought she slept with him as part of her unwinding. Liz picked at a stray thread on her blanket. If she didn't care why did it bother her if Dean thought she slept with him.

"Umm," now comes the hard part, "after Prom, Alex and Isabel also got closer, they were really starting a romantic relationship. Unfortunately," she steeled her voice, it would be the only way to get through it. "Unfortunately Alex was killed a week later. And Tess was the one that killed him."

Dean watched as Liz's face hardened, eyes turned cold, every emotion was on display for him to read. Anger, sadness, and a look he knew well, a desire for revenge. "This-girl-who had gained the trust of all of us, even me, killed a member of our group." Now just because she grew to trust the murderess didn't mean she liked her, it only meant that she could be counted on in a pinch.

"For months she had been using her main power, mindwarping, on him to decode a book that was left by their people. Alex finally did and for a while broke out of the mindwarp. He went to see Tess and in order for him not to talk and reveal what she did she mindwarped him again. Only this time it was too much for him and he collapsed dead. Kyle even saw it…but she made him forget. She got Kyle to take Alex's body and put it in his car and somehow made it seem like a car accident."

"How did you find out about it?" Liz stared at something behind them, not looking at them as if looking at them would make it harder to tell them. To the untrained eye it would seem like Liz didn't care about her friends death but seeing a tiny tick in her jaw and the hard steely gaze she had going she cared very deeply about Alex's murder.

"Although it seemed longer it was only a month, I found a picture, contacted the Swedish Embassy which was where Alex had told everyone he had gone, faxed the picture over to them. I cleaned out my savings when they didn't seem to have any answers for me. Nothing was going to stop me from finding out who killed him." Never mind the fact that she pushed everyone away to the point that her friendships were strained for a while even after she had been proven right.

"I convinced Maria to come with me to Las Cruses where Alex had been when he was supposed to be in Sweden. Michael followed us; there we found information on Leanna, who was supposedly his girlfriend in Sweden. The trail led us to an abandon building where we found the translated text and a crystal of some kind. Then we came back to Roswell. During that time however Max and Tess slept together and she became pregnant."

Dean shook his head in shock. One blow after the other hit this woman-boy could he tell her some stories about his life. He took a long drink from his hot coffee; he'd grown accustomed to the strong bitter taste of black coffee. Reminded him of long cold nights sitting in his car waiting for a creature of the night to come terrorize a neighborhood.

"Tess after she got pregnant became really weak, turned out her and Max's son couldn't survive on this planet, so now thanks to Maria, Michael and I they had a way home. The Granolith would transport them back to Antar, they only had a couple days left on Earth." And as worse as things were at the moment in time it wouldn't compare to what happened later.

"Max and I went to take care of Leanna, he was going to kill her because we thought it was her fault, we thought she was an evil alien. But as I was watching her I saw that she pricked her finger. Why wouldn't she just heal it if she were really an alien? Got her out of her dorm and stopped Max from killing her, looked at her cells and they were 100 human. Afterwards he told me that they were leaving the planet, told me about Tess and the baby." That was only the beginning of shocking information in a whole night of shocks.

She drank the remaining bit of her coffee, which would be the last cup for her tonight. Thanks to being changed she couldn't tolerate too much caffeine or alcohol. One beer she's buzzed and two beers she's swinging from chandeliers telling people she could fly.

"He dropped me off and just to make sure the knife was really stuck in my heart I asked him if he loved her. To which he replied 'Not like I love you'."

Sam and Dean both roll their eyes in disgust. "That was the line he used? Come on even Dean wouldn't use that piece of crap. At least he has some standards."

"Bitch."

"Jerk."

Liz smirked. They were insults certainly but they were said with love. "Instead of going inside I went to Maria's, she wasn't there yet but her Mom let me crash in her room while I waited. A few hours later she showed up, she and Michael slept together and she couldn't believe that their first time together was also going to be their last."

"We had only been in her room for a few minutes when we heard Amy, her Mom, shouting about an event that happened a week previously, but one that Tess also mindwarped away. When she saw us she came back to the present but that was when I put it together. Amy was drumming her fingers on the stove, Alex before he died was drumming his fingers on his guitar, and Kyle was drumming his fingers at the Crashdown."

"And it pointed to Tess." Dean stated.

"Yea, so we drove to Kyle's, talked to him and eventually he remembered what Tess made him forget. We hurried to the Pod Chamber. We couldn't let them leave with Tess, unfortunately they were already inside and no matter how hard we beat on the rock they couldn't hear us." Maria's hands bled she pounded on the rock so hard desperate to get to Michael.

"The chamber started rumbling, we ran off the rock and watched as they flew away back to Antar. The good news was Alex's killer was no longer in Roswell but the bad news was that she was with three other people that we cared about. So the threat to us was gone we should have been safe…but we weren't. Not by a long shot."

TBC


	8. Chapter 7

A.N. Originally this chapter was going to be mostly about the summer/year after the aliens left Earth but Dean and Sam wanted some time in the spotlight. Sorry it's so short but it's a filler chapter. Hope everyone enjoys.

**Chapter 7**

Before she continued with what happened after the others left the planet she checked the time. "Umm, I'll be right back, I got to go take care of something." She stood and left the blanket in her place.

Dean and Sam stood. "We could wait outside if you want."

"Oh no, don't be silly. It's freezing outside. Besides I just have to feed my dog and play with her a bit."

"You have a dog?" Dean questioned he hadn't heard a single dog bark or whimper since he and Sam entered the house. "Where?"

"In my room." Liz admitted, pointing toward the hallway that also led to the bathroom.

"Why don't you bring the dog out?" Sam suggested.

"Don't think that's a good idea." Liz shook her head. The last thing they wanted was to meet her dog. Angel wasn't a stranger friendly kind of animal. She loved her owner, paid little attention to ghost Maria, and tended to eat visitors she deemed unwelcome.

Dean stood so he wasn't looking up at her. "No it's cool. Sammy loves animals. In fact he sleeps with a stuffed animal. Cuddles it real close."

"Dude." Sam stared up at him with a glare that could kill. He turned to the smirking woman. "I do not sleep with stuffed animals."

Not even wanting to get involved with in the sibling rivalry Liz shook her head and moved toward the hallway. "Ok, I'm going to go feed my dog, you two stay here, and try not to destroy my living room while you argue back and forth." She left the living room and opened her bedroom door; the guys heard a loud deep bark before the door closed behind her.

As soon as the door shut Dean swung around and faced his brother. "Okay--I call dibs."

"What?" Sam asked.

"I call dibs." Dean repeated.

"No way you are not doing this. This is a job Dean." He stood up happy that he was a couple inches taller than his older brother. Sometimes it helped with intimidation…although Dean's not one who intimidates easily.

"So, she's hot…I'm hot. We can be hot together."

"Dean we are here for one reason, to find out if the ghost in town is Maria. So far from everything Liz has said it isn't but since there is more to the story we need to wait." He put a hand on his waist and raked the other through his hair. "Besides I doubt she's interested."

"Why the hell not? She's been out here by herself with a ghost and a dog for years I bet she's begging for a man to sweep her off her feet…or in my case give her a few hours of unbelievable pleasure." Dean bragged.

"What makes you think she even wants [i_you[/i_?" Sam argued.

Dean only stared at him, yeah right; he'd seen the looks being shot his way whenever she thought he hadn't been looking. Not to mention the slight flush of her skin when he stared back at her. That little hitch in her breathing and coyly sweeping her gaze away…oh yeah, she wanted him.

"And who do you think she wants? You Sammy?" He shook his head. "Besides what's the harm?"

"Have you even considered the possibility that she's controlling the ghost? You see how Maria's ghost listens to her maybe she has the ability to do that. She can obviously do other extraordinary things." He pointed to the table.

Dean paused for a second. "So you think this story is completely made up to throw us off the scent of what's really going on?"

"Maybe. I'm not saying for sure, but whatever is going on I think she may have something to do with it."

"And what drew you to that conclusion Sherlock?" Dean waited for his brother to explain.

Sam shoved his hands into his jean pockets. He leaned in closer to his brother to ensure that in no way could Liz hear. "I saw her in-in one of my visions. And I only get those when it deals with the yellow-eyed demon."

He didn't continue because her bedroom door opened and closed, another bark escaped but it was cut short when the door shut. Liz came into view a few seconds later.

"Sorry about that." She slid her hands into her back pockets. "Ready to hear the rest?"

Dean and Sam looked at each other for a second before facing her again. "Absolutely." They say at the same time. First Sam moved toward the sofa, followed closely by Dean, they both sat down in sync with each other.

"Whoa did you two rehearse that?" She took her normal spot again, this time leaving the blanket where it was and instead crossing her legs switching her gaze between the brothers.

"No of course not. We're just eager to continue." Dean smirked, unsettled by what Sam revealed to him. He hoped she wasn't connected to the yellow-eyed demon…that seriously but a crimp in his plans to sleep with her.

TBC


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

"After the others left the planet Maria, Kyle and I were in shock. Nothing could have prepared us for not arriving there in time to save them. Maria kept praying that someone would come out, that Michael wouldn't be able to leave, but it wasn't meant to be." She swept her hair up into a ponytail letting it fall over her shoulder.

"The three of us went to my place, my parents were up and weren't too pleased with me. I forgot to tell them that I'd be sleeping at Maria's. They almost laid into me but then they noticed Maria sobbing and Kyle—Kyle was hurt and in shock. And me—I was confused and dazed, unsure of everything I had known that year." She remembered that day so well; it was one of the last few times the three of them were alive and happy…after the talk with the parental units.

"Did you tell them about the aliens?" Sam questioned.

"No. We never told them." She wished she had, they could have helped them through the hardships the group dealt with, not just while the aliens were there on Earth but after as well. Now it was way too late.

"Bet you got grounded." Dean teased. He'd never been grounded. When the demon killed his mother he'd been too young to be punished with grounding. Then when he was older and on the road with Dad and Sammy his Dad either wasn't around to ground him for being the naughty child or didn't think it'd do much good. Besides what could Dad do—take away his favorite gun?

"Actually no. Maria's pain over losing Michael was so obvious that my parents thought I'd been comforting her and simply forgot to let them know the situation. That night despite the emotional battle going on we had a good time just spending time with each other. Kyle in order to try and make us and himself feel better agreed to a mock make over session with him as the test dummy." Liz smirked. The images of Kyle in a long blond wig, lipstick, mascara, blush, and eye shadow. Add to that an old dress of her mother's and a pair of Grandma Claudia's heels made the outfit complete.

Of course it wouldn't be fair that he had dressed up as a girl, he made her and Maria dress up as guys. She had a couple pairs of boxer shorts in her drawer, they weren't Max's or Kyle's, they were hers, she loved wearing men's boxers, it was one of her weird quirks. Maria found three pairs of Liz's baggy jeans that she wore around the house when she was relaxing or doing a grungy job of some kind. Then Liz found a few large shirts and borrowed two of her Dad's baseball caps. When she and Maria had the clothes on they painted on mustaches and beards.

She couldn't remember when she had more fun. They each took a single shot of each other to capture the moment forever then asked her confused parents to snap a picture of them together. Maria and her, portraying men, with their arms around Kyle, pretending to be a woman, acting like they were fighting over him.

"For almost a month things were relatively quiet. Questions had been asked about where the other four disappeared too. Jim Valenti had been filled in of course, upset that Tess had lied to them all. The entire town speculated on the reasoning behind their leaving, none of it was accurate, although some theories came remarkably close to the truth."

"Like what?" Dean knew it wasn't that important in the grand scheme of things but he admittedly was a bit curious.

"Oh—that Tess had been impregnated by an alien but passed it off as Max's. Or a space ship came down and abducted the four. Things along that line." Some of the stories people came up with to explain their disappearances were either on the completely weird and strange side or the majorly disturbing side.

"Anyway, things while not fantastic weren't horrid either. There were sad moments and happy moments and every other emotion in between. Then Maria became sick." She took a deep breath, she could do this, she could tell them what happened to her friend without breaking down crying. "At first she thought it was just a cold but it turned out to be something worse. Far worse then we could ever imagine."

"Michael gave Maria a final parting gift. Now if it was a pregnancy we could have been there, we could have done certain things to help her in whatever she needed. So many…human problems she could have had and we would have supported her and helped her cope as best we could." Liz felt the tears rise and hated herself for not being able to lock her emotions completely away.

"Hey," Dean couldn't take it. He stood up and squeezed in next to her on the oversized chair pulling her body into his chest and put his chin on top of her head. "Hey it's okay. I'm right here." Slowly he rubbed her arm and back giving her comfort.

Heavy tears flowed over and she silently cried on his T-shirt. Tear droplets formed a pattern on the coarse fabric. The horrifying images of her friend deteriorating before her eyes did nothing to help stop the emotional river. In the end she could barely look Maria without wanting to throw up and she was ashamed of that.

Liz clenched her fist around the hem of his shirt so hard it threatened to rip his shirt. Sniffing she pushed away from Dean. "I'm sorry." She scrubbed at her wet eyes. "I'm all right. Thanks."

"Are you sure?" Dean kept his arm around her not willing to let her go yet.

She nodded quickly and leaned back into the chair. Liz noticed his tear stained shirt. "Sorry about crying on your shirt. I made it all wet." She brushed her palm along his shirt trying to smooth away the tears, while petting his chest she felt the top of his abs.

Dean didn't say a word just watched Liz staring at her own hand on his chest. As if not realizing what she was doing she lifted her hand off his front quickly like she burned her fingers. "Sorry—again."

"Didn't hate it." He kept his eyes glued to hers and didn't catch Sam's roll of his eyes.

"And I don't hate that I have to interrupt this touching moment but—"

"But you want to hear the rest. I get it, it's all right." She finished for him, a little irritated at Sam for breaking the moment.

Liz cleared her throat and pushed passed the lump in her throat and continued the story. "Maria was sick for a week, not getting any better so Amy, her mother, took her to the doctor. They couldn't figure out what wrong with her. For another week they did test after test, even diseases that aren't around anymore they tested for. Nothing came of it."

"Now because we had been closely involved with the aliens we had to consider the possibility that Michael had given her some kind of sexually transmitted infection. As much as I wished to find something I didn't. We were in the dark about what was happening to her."

"So how do you know that Michael gave it to her?" Sam leaned forward.

"Another month later, Maria had gotten worse, she could barely move without pain, and she was starting to lose parts of her skin. Amy was broke from paying the doctors and specialists trying every avenue she had to make her better." She dove her fingers into her hair and scratched at her scalp wanting to rip out the images of Maria bed-bound and deteriorating everyday.

"Jesus." Dean scrubbed at his mouth. Maria had gone through hell and Liz had been there to watch it. Nobody should have to go through that and nobody should have to watch a loved one be in that much pain.

"It was then we got a message…the only message we ever received from Antar, the Royal Four's planet."

TBC


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9 A**

"A message? What did it say?" Dean plunged forward.

"The message came from Kivar. The new leader of their home planet. A hologram device was on my bed, I touched it and a figure of Kivar appeared, he identified himself and proceeded to fill me in on my friends and the murderess bitch." Liz squeezed her fingers into the arm of the chair.

"How did he know where you lived or that you would even find it. Hell how did he know about you? Did the green guys spill their guts?" Dean scratched his head. "But why would this Kivar guy care about a couple of Earthlings?"

"He didn't but he cared about hurting us." The man on the hologram would have been very handsome if he hadn't been describing all the fun ways he hurt and abused her friends. His hair was a dark blonde, shoulder length, his face looked aged but that didn't detract from the good-looking features. Kivar had dressed himself well for this hologram meeting in brown leather pants and black dress shirt. If he had passed her on the street she wouldn't have known he was from another planet.

Twisting her neck to the side she popped a kink forming in the back. Ever since the incident that took away her only friend left and a man who was like a second father to her she had problems with her neck and back.

Needing to get the rest of the story out she took a deep breath and pushed out the experience letting Dean and Sam in. "The second they arrived Kivar ambushed them and took them hostage. He couldn't stop gloating that he captured them so easily."

Even to this day she could remember quite clearly what the bastard told her in the hologram. "He said, 'The Royal Four are dead, the second they arrived the one you knew as Tess was separated from the others. I sent her to my quarters, while the others were sent to the holding cell. They were tortured slowly and they revealed their connection to a certain group of Earthlings'. Kivar went into detail about how he tortured Max, Michael, and Isabel."

Max had been tied down on his stomach; first Kivar had him beaten with various whips and devices that burned which left a symbol on the damaged skin. Every night one or more of the guards both female and male abused him mentally, emotionally, and physically. They got information out of him, what Kivar didn't tell them but whatever it was he gave the impression it was important.

Next came Michael…Kivar wanted Isabel and Michael, Max's sister and his second in command to watch everything he did to their King. "First they tortured Max, then Michael—with Michael though when they started to torture him in a similar manner as they had Max they found an anomaly in his blood and changed to a different tactic."

"According to Kivar his scientists found a rare disease that Rath, Michael's name on Antar, had before his essence had been mixed with human DNA and sent to Earth. Antarians were usually fine; they had come up with a cure for it about three hundred years previously. Males apparently could carry the disease but it only sets up shop in females something about the way their bodies were internally different enough from men's that it could fester and become a major problem."

"Did Michael tell them about Maria?" Sam asked.

"Not really sure on that. He might have but they could have just guessed. Since we were close to them, a logical jump would have been that at least one of the aliens had been intimate with one the humans. Kivar continued and said that although he could send the cure he wouldn't, he thought anyone who had contact with one of the Royal Four deserved whatever they got."

Her voice became hoarse from talking so much but she pressed on…she felt she owed her friends to continue, to let their story however gruesome be told. "He proceeded to tell me how it was carried, what symptoms came with the disease, and it was everything Maria had…" She turned her eyes to the side to gather herself.

Sam saw something in her expression and it disturbed him a little. "You didn't tell her did you?"

Swallowing painfully she shook her head. "For the longest time I told myself that she wouldn't want to know that Michael would be the reason that she died—even though on some level I'm—she had to have known."

"So why didn't you tell her?" Dean watched her staring at her hunched form.

Liz's eyes glaze over as she searched within herself the reason for not telling Maria what she had. "I was scared that she'd hate me. That she wouldn't believe me."

TBC

**Chapter 9 B**

"Why wouldn't she believe you?" Sam crossed his arms, he didn't think Liz had any valid reason not to tell her friend what she was dying from. If it were him he would have demanded to know.

"In retrospect she probably would have believed me, if I told her she'd want to know how I knew that information then I'd have to tell her about Kivar and what they did to Michael…"

"You were protecting her from information that could hurt her." Dean sympathized. He did that with Sammy so many times that he couldn't count them all.

"In a way yes. I was also protecting myself. If I didn't say it then it wasn't real. Not the best ways to deal with information like that." Liz bit her bottom lip. "Umm, they didn't kill Max and Michael right away, they kept them alive for a while just long enough to let them see what he did to Isabel."

Isabel by no means was her favorite person, the way she treated Alex while he was alive put the kibosh on any real friendship forming between them. But no matter how she felt about the princess she hadn't deserved what Kivar did to her.

"Isabel was called Vilandra on Antar she was a princess and revealed to Max, who told me, that she and Kivar had some kind of history on their home planet. It was a load of bullshit. Yes they knew each other but he had been obsessed with her."

"Did Kivar tell you that too?" Sam kept his arms crossed not losing the aggressive anger he showed.

"Yes, not in so many words but if you heard him talking about her it'd be obvious that he wanted her but she didn't give him the time of day. After he was done describing Vilandra he smiled and said he finally was in possession of her and it was time for her to pay for rejecting him."

"Do we really want to know what he did to her?" Dean asked.

"No you don't. Without getting into the same graphic detail Kivar did I'll just tell you that he raped her repeatedly in front of Max and Michael. He didn't omit a single sensation, a single scream from his description of the violation he put her through."

Swallowing she blanked out the seductive ruthless voice telling her every detail about his abuse toward Isabel. "After he was done he said she'd get to live if she agreed to be his Queen. He only told me that she didn't agree to his terms so he beheaded her. Knowing Isabel though she more than likely said something remarkably damaging to his ego as she gracefully turned him down. She had the ability to make a person feel like pond-scum."

"Did you at least tell Kyle about any of this? Did he get the privilege of knowing what happened to his friends?" Sam wasn't willing to let it go, he thought Liz was completely wrong and needed to know his feelings on the subject. Dean on the other hand disagreed…loudly.

"Back off of her Sam. Would you be so forth coming with information that could hurt one of your friends? Hurt me? She had a choice to make and she made one that she thought at the time was right."

"That doesn't mean Maria didn't have a right to know what she had, who gave it too her." He argued back.

"Oh really? What about Jessica? Did you tell her how she was going to die? No you kept it from her just like Liz kept this information from Maria. Don't string her up for doing the exact same thing you and I have done on numerous occasions."

Sam clenched his jaw and looked away. "That was a dream Dean. I didn't know it was real, Liz knew that this was real." Dean hit below the belt bringing up Jess.

"To answer your question no I didn't tell Kyle or Jim or Maria about anything that came in the hologram. What the hell could they do? It wasn't like we could hop on a ship and fly to Antar. Even if we could they were already dead there was nothing we could do to save them. It would have only caused unnecessary pain. Pain I didn't want to cause, there was already so many things going on, this would have been icing on the cake. So don't you dare judge me for my decisions." Suddenly she didn't feel so guilty for keeping the information from her friends.

Liz stood up and went to lean against the fireplace. "Kivar told me how he killed Max and Michael. During this whole time he never brought up Tess or the son she was carrying except to say she was separated from the others."

"So what happened to her?" Sam's tone had softened a bit but it was still icy.

"Nothing at first. Kivar treated her like any Queen. Made sure she had the finest medical attention, fed her the best food, her own room, which was right next to his. Once the baby was born however that treatment changed."

Sam saw the tiniest crack of a smirk on her lips. "You don't seem too broken up about whatever he did to her." Maybe she was in league with the yellow-eyed demon. What kind of person would be happy over another person's pain?

"Because I'm not. That bitch mind-raped my best friend for months until he collapsed at her feet dead and she tossed him away like he was a piece of garbage. Then just to twist the knife in more she led three of my other friends to their death. I feel nothing but contempt for her. Am I particularly happy about what Kivar put her through, no, I'm not. However I refuse to waste any sympathy on her."

"So what exactly did he do to her after the baby was born?" Dean stared at her.

"Strapped her to the dungeon wall, he raped her for a while, then he let his men use her for a while. After he let the guards have their fun he tortured her, used various tools to open her up but somehow during all that they kept her alive. Until a week or so later he had her drawn and quartered—a common punishment for those deemed as traitors."

"Where did he that she was a traitor from?" Sam swallowed trying to keep down his disgust for the display he saw in front of him. Liz hadn't shown an ounce of remorse for what Tess had been put through,

"She betrayed her family. Isabel, Max, Michael and most importantly her son. Even though Kivar abused and killed the other members of the Royal Four he gave them what he considered an honorable death. A beheading while they were covered in the Royal robes. Tess however turned in her own family to die; she was killed without honor. She deserved worse as far as I'm concerned."

TBC

A.N. I noticed that a lot of people noticed Sam's reaction to Liz and her decisions. As a hint I'll say that his anger and judgement is out of character for the Sam we see on the show.


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10  
**

After her outburst Liz pushed away from the mantle and went into the bathroom to collect her emotions. They were flying all over the place and that could be dangerous. She could control her powers for the most part but when she was upset or sad they tended to have a mind of their own.

Green bolts of energy flow down her arms and into her chest. Breathe, deep calming breaths and it would go away. Please go away.

Sam stood up from his chair and walked over to Dean. "Listen, can you go outside for a little while. I want to talk to Liz, apologize to her."

"Yea you were hard on her." Dean nodded. "Bitch."

"Jerk." He lightly punched Dean in the arm.

"Okay. I'll be outside. Come get me when you're done." He almost left the cabin but then turned to Sam at the last minute. "Don't be putting on your loser charm either. You want her to forgive you not throw up on you." And with that he left.

Five minutes later the bolts had disappeared. Liz could still feel the electric sensations below the surface but on top it was back to tanned skin, not a single green bolt in sight.

She turned on the warm water and grabbed a washcloth placing it under the flow of liquid till it was soaked through. Gently she placed it on her face and dabbed it on her tears. It hurt when the bolts came but it was the turmoil of her heart that caused the tears to fall down her cheeks.

Satisfied that she didn't look like she had been crying she put the towel back and dried her face. Sighing she turned back to the bathroom door and opened it. Sam stood there glaring down at her.

Too soon for her brain to register Sam grabbed her and pushed her back into the bathroom slamming the door behind him. "Not so fast."

"What…" Her voice was cut off as his hand went around her throat and pushed her into the black tile behind her.

Sam tsked at her. "No, no, no. Don't talk." His hand tightened around her neck squeezing the breath out of her. His eyes flared with anger and insanity.

Liz grabbed onto his arm trying to pull him loose but it was no use, Sam was too strong. She pushed at his chest but he took his unoccupied hand and forced hers into the wall behind her head.

As before the green bolts flowed through her arms rushing to the aid of the body they were housed in, only now time they attacked Sam, zapping him into the door. Falling to her knees Liz coughed and held her neck tenderly.

"What the fuck!" She screamed at him. Liz didn't give a rat's ass that it hurt her throat to have that kind of volume.

Instead of answering Sam stood up and laughed sinisterly. He rushed forward and punched her in the face twice knocking her out.

Sam bent down and swept the hair out of her face. "Surely you remember your old friend." Without care he pushed Liz over onto her back. "So pretty. Oh well."

TBC


	12. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Leaning over her Sam stroked Liz's face trailing his fingers down her cheek. Having her knocked out would open the connection and she would be able to see everything. But he didn't want to do that yet. He was going to have some fun first.

Standing up he took a hold of Liz's wrists and dragged her out of the bathroom. The dog in the bedroom was going crazy barking, even through the room seemed to have some soundproofing.

Back in the living room Sam dropped Liz in the middle of the room like she was a sack of potatoes. He reached to his right and pulled a dining room table chair over and lifted the unconscious girl into it. Now to find something to tie her up with.

After a few minutes of searching he found some duct tape and he proceeded to tape her to the chair. Her arms were pinned to the hand rests and her legs were taped at the ankles then taped to the bar underneath the chair.

Outside Dean leaned against a tree, if his car were closer he could have sat in there for a bit while Sammy smoothed things over with Liz.

Why couldn't he shake the bad feeling he had in his gut? It was similar to the panic he felt when Sam's apartment with Jessica had been ablaze.

Dean looked back at the cabin. All seemed quiet…too quiet.

Pulling out his gun Dean gripped it tightly in his hand. Even after all that time of hunting demons he still got a surge of fear before entering a hostile situation. It was a rush.

He hurried up to the porch and turned the doorknob. Locked.

Sam wouldn't have locked the door to talk to Liz. Standing back he kicked at the door and it flew open hitting the wall behind it. The first thing he noticed was Liz tied to a chair. Her head was down and blood was dripping from her mouth.

Lifting his gun he searched the room quickly before stepping in. He slowly stepped behind Liz, with his gun still raised he felt for a pulse on her neck. Still breathing, good.

Dean went into the hallway. "Sam?" Silently he begged for his brother to answer him. He had to be all right.

The door to what he assumed was the bathroom was ajar. He took a deep breath and lightly kicked it open. No Sam, but this was were Liz had been taken down. Shallow cracks in the tile by the mirror and blood on the floor was a dead give away.

He turned ready head back to the living room but suddenly his world went dark.

Staring down at him knocked out on the floor was his brother. "I didn't come and get you."

Moment's later Sam had both Dean and Liz tied to dining room chairs. They should be waking up soon. Liz was already starting to stir.

He leaned in close to her hunched form. "Wakey, wakey Lizzie."

Cobwebs covered her mind making it difficult to force herself into consciousness. Her head throbbed and her jaw ached.

Logically she knew something wasn't right but she couldn't wrap her head around the events of earlier. What the hell was happening?

Through the clouds and cobwebs she heard a voice coaxing her out of unconsciousness.

"Come on, wake up."

Lethargically she raised her eyelids and tried to focus on the face in front of her. Sam was close enough that she could feel his hot breath across her cheek.

"There you are." He spoke softly and with care. "Thought you wouldn't wake up there for a second. Guess I didn't hit you hard enough. Ah well there's always next time right?" He chuckled.

Liz swallowed the saliva and blood that collected in her mouth. She pulled away as much as she could and saw the stain of blood on her jeans.

Those words, those statements that Sam said…it sounded so familiar. She should know who said those words to her. How could she forget them but her brain hurt and it wasn't making the connection. Her eyes drooped but Sam wouldn't let her pass out again.

"No, no. Stay awake. There's so much more to do."

"Wh—"

She cut off her sentence when she saw Dean next to her on another chair. What was going on? Sam tied up his own brother? It made her feel a little better that he wasn't in on the attack against her. Still wasn't fantastic since they were both tied to chairs but it added a bit of comfort to a tense situation.

He followed her line of sight. "Yea. He came to rescue you…well us. You know if you weren't going to die I'd say you'd make a cute couple. Too bad you won't be going on any dates. Maybe I let you two have a quickie before I kill you." He shrugged. "Or maybe not."

"Why are you doing this?" She worked to get her breathing down to normal. Last thing she needed was to hyperventilate.

"I suppose I should tell you. After all we were close once." He stood up and paced in front of her. "But shouldn't you know?" He spoke in such a way that she'd get it, if not immediately then soon after.

Liz rose her gaze to his staring into his eyes. Maria said that all the time to Michael, to the point where she and Kyle would tease her all the time over it.

"No. It's not…" She tried to shake her head but that caused pain at her temples.

"Still not sure. Well how about this." He lunged forward and put his hands on the sides of her face.

Flashes rushed into her head, too fast to focus on just one, but the feelings behind the flashes were another story. "AHHHHH!" She shrieked. Pain, torture, and finally death.

"Do you know now?" He screamed in her face.

"It can't be you. No. You wouldn't do this." She argued with tears falling freely down her face.

He laughed. "Maybe not then but I had a lot of time to stew in my anger and misery. Why was I the one that died? Why weren't you dead too? It's not fair."

"We…"

"No Liz, not 'we'. Me. I. They tortured ime/i. iI/i got poked and prodded, till I was on the brink of death." He reached forward and grabbed her throat. "Until they prodded one too many times and I died."

"I'm sorry."

"Sorry?" He shook his head. "That's not good enough."

"Kyle…"

TBC


	13. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

"Kyle?" Liz gasped out. "How…"

He reached out and smacked Liz across the face. Her teeth rattled from the blow. "No, it's my turn to talk."

Off to the side Dean began to stir. He heard yelling and screaming, it took everything he had to fight back to the surface.

"Oh, look whose waking up now."

"Sammy?" He croaked.

"Nope, sorry Dean. Not Sammy." Kyle in Sam's body smirked.

"Then who—"

"Liz knows me. She knows me real well. See she was my girlfriend, then she became almost an enemy, then a friend again and soon—soon she'll be dead and I will be free."

Dean turned toward Liz who wouldn't take her eyes off Sam. "You know whose in there?"

"Yes. Remember I told you a little bit about Kyle? Well he's the one that's in there." She briefly glanced toward Dean then returned her gaze to the pacing figure in front of them.

"Why would he do this I thought he was your friend?" If he's what Liz considered a friend she needed to change her definition of friendship fast.

Swallowing she nodded. "He was. Although I don't know why he's like this."

"Don't lie Liz." Kyle spoke in a sing-song voice. "How can you not know why I hate you now? To anyone with half a brain it would be obvious."

"Well if I'm not smart enough why don't you fill me in." Her cheek throbbed as she spoke through gritted teeth.

Kyle thought it over for a minute. "All right." He smirked. "You sure you want the guy you're crushing on to hear. He might not want you after he hears about you."

"I'm willing to take that chance." She assured him.

"It's simple Liz. You left me to be tortured in that hell-hole." Kyle in Sam's body raged softly. He didn't yell but she could feel the anger from him.

"What—"

"They let you go. They kept me and let you go. It wasn't even that they let you go—I was happy about that. It meant that you would be back somehow with help. You'd have a plan to get me out of there." He leaned in close to the bound girl. "But no, instead you were overjoyed and went on like your only living friend wasn't being mutilated, poked, and dissected like a lab rat."

"How could you think that?" She breathed out.

"Because it's true." He shouted. "They showed me pictures. So many videos of you enjoying life on the outside. Forgetting about me."

Kyle believed them, they told him lies and he believed them. Liz licked her lips careful of the cut on her lips and stared into Kyle's/Sam's eyes.

"They were lying Kyle. Jesus use your brain." Anger flooded her system, when she had realized that it wasn't Sam in that body anymore but her long-dead friend she felt so much sadness. But now hearing Kyle speak untruths to her, blaming her for pain she didn't cause him, it made her blood boil.

"They weren't, I saw the pictures." He didn't move from in front of Liz's face.

"Wake up Kyle they worked for the FBI, do you really think that photo-shopping in my face isn't in their capability?"

Unbeknownst to the two former friends Dean was working to get the knife he sewed in his jacket sleeve out. Ever since he was tied to a chair before by that _Texas Chainsaw Massacre_ family he made sure he was prepared for such a predicament.

"Kyle I would never leave you to suffer that." She pleaded with him.

"You're lying, you're trying to cover your ass now that you're close to death." He stood up straight and shook his head. He wouldn't fall for her tricks.

"Listen to me please…" Her plea was cut off by sharp smack across face.

"I'm through listening to you." Kyle snarled. "You're going to die and nothing you say can stop that."

"Bravo." A clap started by the front door of the cabin, effectively pausing the drama going on inside.

TBC


	14. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Kyle turned toward the voice. "What are you doing here?" He straightened the body he inhabited.

"Came to cheer you on Kyle." The man took a step inside. "It's taken a lot of time to get you to this point. There's no way I was going to miss the fireworks."

Liz glared at the man, she wanted to speak up and ask who the hell he was but she might get more out of both of them if she kept quiet.

Off to the side Dean finally got the knife out of his sleeve and went to work on the duct tape. He couldn't slice the tape as fast as he wanted, any sudden movements could bring attention to his actions and then what the hell would he do.

"You didn't have to come here." Kyle argued.

"Sure I did. It's killing two birds…or three in this case with one stone. Not only do you get Liz, but the Winchester brothers are taken care of as well." He spread his arms out and shrugged. "So you see, I've got to be here."

At the man's confession she turned to Dean. "Do you know him?" She whispered.

"Never seen him before..."

"No Elizabeth Dean and Sam don't know me. Well…that's not entirely accurate. They do know me but they've never seen this face."

Liz stared at him in confusion. "What?" She was really beginning to hate that word. It implied that she had very little idea to what was going on, which unfortunately now, was one hundred percent correct.

Dean stopped his slow deliberate movements for a moment and stared at the newcomer in front of him. He and Sam knew him? Dammit Dean think.

The man stepped closer to Kyle and clapped him on the shoulder. Instantly he pulled back his hand seeing the fury blazing in his gaze. "Sorry…forgot you don't like to be touched."

"Don't forget again." He murmured.

"Not a problem." The man backed off a little. He switched his attention to the thorn in his side that's currently tied to the chair glaring at him something fierce. "So Dean. How does it feel to know you've lost and your brother is going to be under my control?"

Instantly everything clicked. "You son of a bitch." Dean growled.

"Ah figured it out did ya? Took you long enough." He mocked.

"When I get out of here I swear to God I'll follow your exorcised ass back to hell and make sure you never come back." The Yellow Eyed fucking Demon. Sam…or more accurately Kyle, he wasn't sure when Liz's friend had taken over his brother's body, was working with the YED. How screwed up was that?

"Like to see you try."

Angry and a bit impatient Kyle turned toward the couch and picked up a knife he left there. "Let's stop stalling and get to work." He tested the sharpness of the blade with his finger. A small trail of blood leaked from his thumb. "Perfect."

"That's the spirit Kyle."

"Kyle wait…look at my back." Liz pleaded.

"What?" Of all the requests she could have made that wasn't in the top one hundred.

Liz swallowed. "Look at my back." He wouldn't believe her if she told him; maybe he'd believe her if she showed him instead.

Skeptical Kyle shook his head. "How many times do I have to tell you that I'm not listening to what you have to say? It won't do any good Liz."

"I'm not telling you to listen to me, I'm just asking you to look at my back. After that you can do what you want." If the damage her back showed didn't at least stall him she had nothing left to counter his attack with except an alien blast that would hurt her too.

Blasting wasn't exactly a power that treated her well. She used it twice and both times it threw her back into a wall knocking her unconscious. For an unknown reason Michael's blasting power was inside of her but any time she tried to use it hello pain and other unpleasant consequences, namely flying into walls.

The YED could see the wheels turning in Kyle's mind. He was considering her request. "Kyle don't listen to her, she's only trying to stall the inevitable."

"Why don't you shut your mouth," Dean shot back. "If it's inevitable what's a few more minutes of stalling going to do?"

Slowly Kyle, in Sam's body, put the knife on the table and shrugged. "All right. But don't talk." He snarled at Liz. If she wanted this as a last wish who was he to deny her.

When Kyle was behind her chair she leaned forward a bit and waited nervously for him to lift the back of her shirt up. While Kyle was distracted Dean began to methodically cut his duct-taped wrist again. He couldn't afford to look at Liz's back along with Kyle, instead he watched the YED steam in his frustration.

Squatting behind her he cautiously lifted the thin T-shirt. When he saw what littered her back Kyle sucked in a breath.

Liz shivered at Kyle's…Sam's cool fingers tracing one of the more savage scars. The jagged wound spanned from her lower left back to the middle of back stopping right before her spine. It wasn't the worse injury she had but it was one of the most visible.

"How…"

"They lied to you Kyle. I wasn't let go. Not until you were almost dead."

He lifted more of her shirt exposing her stomach to the YED and Dean but Liz nor Kyle noticed. Kyle stroked his fingertips down another long clean scar that ran along the length of her spine.

Dean briefly glanced at her bare stomach and saw what looked to be two letters that were burned and permanently marked into her stomach. The rest of the letters were also scarred but not as prominent.

"Who did this?" Everything he had been told was wrong? Was what Liz said right, did they keep her strapped to a table like he was? Did they play with her organs while she still breathed?

"You know who." They all thought he was dead. Jim had checked his pulse, Agent Pierce was dead. Unfortunately no one could have guessed that Pierce was an alien like those he hunted. He was one of Kivar's men, he told her what kind of alien he was but honestly she couldn't remember, she had been too busy being cut open and tortured.

Kyle swallowed and just when Liz thought she was getting through to him he violently shook his head. "No!" He snarled. "You're just trying to trick me." Kyle stood up and went for the knife.

Dean gritted his teeth. Liz's plan didn't work, Kyle still planned to kill her and then him. He almost had the tape completely cut. Just another minute, then it would take a couple seconds to cut the other hand free. He couldn't kill Sammy but he could knock him out.

"That's right Kyle, you know what's the truth." The YED cheered Kyle on. The fortuneteller he made give him a reading before killing her pointed him in the direction of a very dead Kyle Valenti. He was the link that would give him Dean's head on a platter and Sam at the head of the demon army.

The fortuneteller saw Miss Parker and the Winchester boys crossing paths and Kyle would be his way in. All he had to do was get Kyle good and angry, which as an angry spirit already wasn't very hard. So he instead focused on getting him powerful enough to take over Sam's body for a brief time, once his purpose was served though, he'd be sent to hell for an eternity of torture. If Kyle knew that he might not have gone along with the plan, but luckily he didn't.

"You're going to die Liz." Kyle told her. "At least you won't be alone. Dean will be joining you shortly."

Kyle gripped the handle of the knife but saw a wispy figure out of the corner of his eye. Curious he turned and was taken aback by what he saw.

"Kyle." The figure solidified completely.

"Maria?"

TBC


	15. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

Liz watched in awe, as Maria became solid. She didn't look dead at all. "Ria?" She whispered.

For a brief moment Maria turned her attention to Liz. "Hi sweetie."

"How?" In all the years she'd been dead not once had she been able to become solid. Anytime she used her energy to speak to Liz she disappeared for hours until strong enough again.

"Got some much needed assistance." She smiled slightly at Dean before focusing back on Kyle. "Kyle what are you doing?" Maria questioned disappointment flooded her voice.

Kyle stared down at the knife cradled in his palm. "Liz forgot about us. She let us die…she still lives and we're rotting in the ground."

"Let me die?" Maria scoffed. "Boy, you really are a dumb jock." She insulted.

"Why is she insulting the unstable ghost?" Dean leaned in to whisper to Liz.

Liz nervously swallowed, "She knows what she's doing." Hopefully.

"How can you defend her?" Kyle/Sam shouted. "She never told you about Michael. That he not only died but gave you the disease that ended up killing you. Liz knew and she kept her mouth shut."

Maria shook her head. "Listen to me Kyle." She pleaded stepping forward. "Even if she told me about it I still would be dead. Yea, it ticked me off once I died. Realizing that she had this knowledge but then I stopped and thought what could she have done? What good would it have done to tell me? Liz thought she was doing the right thing. How could I hate her for trying to protect my heart?"

"She didn't stop my father from…" Kyle broke off not able to finish the sentence.

"And she was supposed to do what? Place a guard on him twenty four hours a day? He wouldn't even talk to her after what happened to the both of you. Yes, I said the both of you." She answered his unspoken question. "Liz was in that same compound, down the hall from you. All those pictures you saw of her dancing and laughing on the outside were fake."

"Don't listen to her Kyle." The Yellow Eyed Demon shouted. He saw Kyle's anger losing its power and he couldn't allow that to happen.

Dean seeing his chance cut the last of his arm bindings and bent down quickly to slice his duct taped ankles. Once he was up and out of the chair he charged at the YED. He got one punch in before he was pushed back into a wall by an unseen force. "Always act first, think later huh Dean?"

Liz struggled against her own bindings. Dean shouted in pain, she saw a trickle of blood fall from his mouth. "Stop it, let him go asshole." She screamed at the man.

"No don't think so little girl." He mocked.

Angry, Liz called up all the alien mojo she could find in her body, she concentrated on it and let it build. When her skin crackled with green electric currents she pushed all that pent up energy out at the YED holding Dean. She was thankful her whole body could be used as a release for all that blasting power. If it were only her hands like the aliens she'd be shooting her feet off.

As the energy escaped and sought out their target Liz flew back into the fireplace. The dining room chair she still sat in smashed against the brick and Liz fell in a heap among the ruined piece of furniture.

"Liz!" Maria shouted.

The YED shot backward with a massive hole in his chest, and was blasted through the open door. He landed somewhere in the woods outside. Dean landed roughly on the floor next to Liz. Both lay still for a few seconds that both Maria and Kyle thought they were dead.

What seemed like minutes later but in reality was only seconds; Liz breathed in shakily putting Maria's fears to rest. Her best friend wasn't dead. Off to her side Sam's face scrunched up. As Maria stared at him he fell to his knees. "Kyle?"

"It's Sam…he's…" Sam's voice cut off as Kyle's spirit was pushed out of his body.

"Whoa." Maria stepped back. She'd never heard of a possessed body actually having the strength to push out a host.

Sam swayed with exhaustion. It wasn't a vacation to have a spirit or demon take over their bodies. "Dean." He managed to croak out before collapsing on the floor.

Maria took in the fallen people scattered around her. Nervously she peeked outside but she couldn't see where the YED landed. Being a spirit gave her a lot of knowledge, not because she was dead but more because no one could see her snooping. She heard everything Dean and Sam spoke about while Liz was feeding Angel, her dog.

Dean rolled over onto his back, the bits of broken chair dug into his back. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted Maria kneeling by Liz lighting brushing her hair off the side so she could see her face. He stared up at the ceiling for a second before searching for Kyle. On the floor face down Sam struggled to rise onto his knees. "Sammy?"

"It's Sam. And yea, uh, it's me." He groaned. "You okay?" Sam managed to get out.

"Fantastic." Dean chuckled. "Where'd Kyle go?"

"He's where he needs to be." Maria told them without lifting her gaze from Liz. She was breathing but still hadn't woken up. "Come on honey." Maria whispered. There wasn't anything she could do in her ghostly state, she was helpless and that didn't sit well with her.

Dean crawled over to her and lifted her gently into his lap. "What did she do?" When the YED had him pinned to the wall he was in too much pain to notice much of what happened.

"She used one of the alien powers she inherited and blasted ol' Yellow Eyes out of the cabin." Maria smirked.

Sam leaned up against the couch, his legs still wobbly so he didn't bother trying to stand up. He breathed in deeply resting his head on the back of the couch.

"So where'd the YED go?" Dean questioned.

TBC


	16. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

"Outside somewhere." Sam said. He held his chest; his lungs and heart began to slow to their normal pace.

"How do you know that?" Dean asked.

"Even though I was taken over I was still here. Saw everything." Sam chuckled. "Sorry I hit you."

"Should have known it wasn't you. No way could you have knocked me out without the help of a ghost." He teased.

"Jerk."

"Bitch."

Liz moaned out, her ears rang, and her back hurt like a son of a bitch, but she was alive. Someone held her tenderly caressing her cheek. She could barely make out the voice but it was pleading with her to open her eyes.

After a moment of gathering everything she could about her surroundings without opening her eyes she finally accomplished that final step. Surprisingly she lied face up in Dean's embrace and he was the one who had been rubbing her cheek with his thumb.

"Welcome back girl." Maria smiled from her position next to Liz.

"Hi. Where's…"

"The YED is somewhere outside, I didn't see where he landed after you blasted his ass and Kyle has gone to…" She paused, "let's just say Jim's not too pleased with him. Pretty sure Kyle's being grounded as we speak." She scrunched her nose a little in confusion. "Although how a ghost can ground a ghost I have no idea."

"What?" Liz's asked confused.

"Jim is probably yelling at Kyle as we speak. Just because they're both dead doesn't mean their not still father and son." Still seeing the dazed expression Maria explained further. "Well, I'm assuming that Kyle was beginning to lose his hold on Sam. Right before he left Sam's body he looked shocked…so what I think happened is his anger had lessened enough that Sam could push him out." Maria crinkled her nose. "But I've never heard of a person being able to do that…even after the spirit has lost some of it's power."

Sam laughed uncomfortably. "Let's just say I'm special."

Having not turned her attention away from Maria, Liz asked, "How are you here? How did you become solid." Liz watched as Maria's hand passed through the brick fireplace. "Or solid to the eye."

"Like I said before, I had some help." Maria bent her neck to the left, signaling Liz to turn in the direction she gestured to.

"Oh my God…"

"Holy…"

"Shit."

Liz, Sam, and Dean stared at the figures filling the cabin living room in shock.

"Do you realize how much spiritual help you have behind you? Not many people can say they have a whole army of ghosts ready to protect them." Maria smiled warmly, although she had faded a little she's still about to talk normally.

"We thought ghosts…" Sam started unable to take his eyes off one particular spirit.

"Ghosts aren't always evil Sam. The really upset one can get violent but most are good, watching those they love, keeping them safe as best they can." Maria stood up and stared down at Liz for a moment. "Come on Liz, knowing you, you have a bunch of questions you want to ask. Let's leave the boys to talk to their group of ghosts and you can chat with yours."

Still in shock she nodded and eased up on her own two feet. Dean, while staring in confusion at the two clearest ghosts from a group of at least ten, didn't notice that he helped Liz up until she stepped away from him and his hands fell to his sides.

Liz couldn't speak, not yet, she just took in everybody that she could see. Not only was Maria there smiling at her, so were Max, Isabel, Michael and most importantly Alex and Grandma Claudia. They were all there, all able to be seen, and all coaxing her closer. "It's ok honey bear. We're not going to hurt you." Grandma smiled warmly at her.

Meanwhile Dean and Sam had no trouble walking up to their two loved ones or speaking for that matter. "Mom?" Dean whispered his voice shaking with emotions.

"Hello my baby." Mary placed a wispy hand over her eldest son's cheek.

"Jess…" Sam reached out to hold her but his hand went through her waist. His breath hitched scared that he accidentally hurt her but her warm eyes that shined with love told him he hadn't.

"Hey Sam. Did you forget to tell me something about your family?" She teased.

TBC


	17. Chapter 16 A

A.N. Ok, this was going to be the second to last part and technically it still is it's just being split up into two parts. The conversation between Max and Liz went on a little longer than I originally planned.

**Chapter 16 A**

Over on the other side of the room Liz stood in front of everyone she loved—except her parents, they, thank goodness, were still alive and living in Roswell. "I can't believe this. It's too unreal." She pushed her hair back with frustration.

"How is this more unreal than aliens or Maria being your resident ghost?" Michael questioned.

"Honestly, I thought I going crazy…or worse already there. No one else was around, I was afraid that I made Maria up because of guilt and loneliness." Liz explained. "At least now I know that I'm not insane, and even if I am so are Dean and Sam because they're seeing ghosts too."

Knowing they had a minimum amount of time before they disappear Michael and Isabel stepped forward first. The two went first because out of everyone present they were the least important to Liz. That didn't mean she didn't care about them but they weren't as close to her as the others.

"Listen Liz, there is no reason for you to feel guilty. Even if you and the others got to the chamber in time it's possible we never would have listened to you about Tess. We had made our decision and nothing was going to change our minds." Isabel spoke first. "With the way things ended with you and Max we might not have believed you anyway." She shrugged. "Take care of yourself Liz."

With a friendly smile and a wink Isabel faded into nothing. Next Michael got her attention. "I always told Max that he was stupid to save you that day in the Crashdown. After all if he hadn't saved you no one would have suspected us to be aliens, the FBI wouldn't have been after us, and we could have probably led a quiet life."

Liz's lip quivered to keep from crying. Michael wasn't exactly making her feel better but maybe that was the point. Maybe he needed to get some of his grievances out.

"But despite all that…if Maxwell hadn't saved you we never would have had people who protected us and cared about us even with our otherworldly status. We wouldn't have known if ordinary people could accept us. I wouldn't have met Maria, Isabel wouldn't have met Alex, and I wouldn't have known what it was like to have an unconditional friend. I don't regret that Max saved you anymore. That incident brought a lot of good things into our lives, including you."

She swallowed passed the lump in her throat. "Thank you Michael." With a nod he was gone.

"You know sometimes that boy does get it right." Maria shared a knowing grin with Liz.

After Michael, Grandma Claudia came up to her granddaughter. "You and I already said our goodbyes." A tear rolled down Liz's face. "Remember your promise to me?"

Reluctantly Liz nodded. "Always follow my heart no matter where it takes me." She croaked out trying to speak passed the emotion clogging her throat.

"That's right." Claudia ran a misty hand over Liz's face and glanced toward the young man who held Liz earlier. "And right now your heart's fluttering for that one."

"Dean?" Liz whispered. "I'm just attracted to him Grandma and…"

"And that's enough. Love can come later…or never, but live in the now, and have fun. You've always been so serious honey bear and sometimes you need a man like that to loosen up."

"Grandma!" She chuckled.

"What? Just because I'm dead doesn't mean I still don't notice a cutie. I love you baby girl, always follow your heart, you keep that promise."

Again Liz nodded. "I promise." With that statement her Grandmother vanished and another tear fell from her eyes.

Opening her eyes there were only three people left, Max, Maria, and Alex. She wondered who would come up to her next. She watched as Max took an unneeded breath and stepped forward.

"Max…"

"Liz…"

Both spoke at the same time. She chuckled and glanced up, while Max smirked warmly and looked to the floor. "Why don't you start?" Liz said.

He nodded. "You and I…we really loved each other, when I was alive I always believed that but there was also a small part of me that didn't think that was possible. That maybe it was wishful thinking on my part and what we had wasn't true love. Now that I'm…you know," He licked his lips, "I know without a shadow of a doubt that we did love each other. Probably more than any sixteen or seventeen year old should." Max put his hands in his pockets, a gesture of nervousness from his living days.

"You're probably right." She swallowed. "But I can't regret that. I loved you completely and my Grandma was right. If I can't love with my whole heart what's the point."

"You were my first and last love Liz. I never loved Tess, not like I should have anyway." Liz saw the guilt cloud his face. She wanted to comfort him but she got the distinct impression that he wouldn't want that. He lifted his head slightly and looked toward Dean and Sam. "Your Grandmother was right, you should follow your heart wherever it takes you, and I know—", Max had a hard time getting the last words out. "I know that it's leading you to him."

Liz turned and looked at Dean who was staring in awe at a woman who touched his cheek gently. "It doesn't mean…"

"Oh I know. It doesn't mean you didn't love me. It doesn't mean you don't love me. You deserve to be happy. Liz you deserve to find love again. Don't stay out in this cabin, in these woods just because you're afraid to feel again."

Liz pushed a stray lock of hair out of the way. Her breath hitched as the emotions she felt became too much for her to hold back any more. "I'm sorry for everything Max. If you hadn't saved me that day you'd be alive and…"

"Stop. Don't apologize for me saving your life." He stalked closer to her. "Every second I had with you was more exhilarating than the next. If I hadn't saved you I'd probably still be dead Liz only without all the warm and wonderful memories of us. Tess and Nasedo would still have come to Roswell; I would have probably gotten together with her and still slept with her. It's possible that we still would have found a way to get to Antar and we'd be in the same place we were, probably even sooner than we originally were." Max tried to make her feel better.

"But Max I never told you about the Future version of you coming to me. And I didn't tell you how our life was before…" Liz was cut off again.

"That was Tess's doing. She mind warped you into believing you saw my future self. She wanted to get you to turn me away so she'd have me. It's not your fault. Stop blaming yourself." Max pleaded. "The love we had got me through the worst of what Kivar put us through. We weren't meant to be together now Liz, but I hope we'll find each other again and have another shot together. Until that time though don't close your heart."

Liz sniffled. "I won't. But please promise me that you won't wait for me either. If you find someone—whether it be in the great beyond or if you're reborn or whatever. That you won't turn them away because you want to wait for me."

"I can do that." Max smiled sadly and stepped forward. Maria and Alex faded a bit giving Max some of their energy so he could touch Liz. He leaned down and gently kissed her lips. It was only a whisper of a touch but it gave them closure.

Liz watched as Max faded away and her two remaining friends returned to their visible state. She wiped the tears falling from her eyes and sent them a watery grin.

TBC


	18. Chapter 16 B

**Chapter 16 B**

Maria smirked. "Even in death that boy still loves you." She and Alex stepped forward and waited for Liz to dry her eyes.

"So, how's the afterlife?" Liz teased.

"Interesting." Alex told her.

Liz couldn't stop staring at them; they looked really good, even if they were ghosts. She opened her mouth but then closed it. There was so much that she wanted to say, wanted to ask them, but now they're in front of her and she couldn't speak.

Alex noticing her dilemma spoke first. "We're ok." He assured her.

Cutting straight to the point Maria spoke up. "Since we don't have much time, there is one thing I need to tell you." Maria lifted her hand to touch Liz's shoulder but stopped herself from doing so. If she touched Liz her hand would likely go right through her.

"Ok, what is it?"

"Jim killing himself was not your fault." When Liz went to open her mouth to tell Maria that she knew that already her friend shook her head and silenced her effectively. "You may believe that in your mind but I've watched you every day since I died, in your heart you believe that you could have stopped him. Let me tell you right now that it wasn't possible. Even if you stayed with him for twenty-four hours there would have been a moment you looked away and he would have taken his own life. Nothing you could have done would have stopped him."

"Maybe if I had been there…"

"No. Nothing could have helped him. His only son had been murdered. He had nothing to live for anymore, nothing that he wanted to live for anyway."

Liz, although she still felt guilty, couldn't help but see Maria's point. Her parent's had made clear on a number of occasions that they would cease to exist if anything happened to her. Jim obviously felt the same way when it came to Kyle. What parent wouldn't?

~*~*~

"Who would have guessed my boyfriend was a demon hunter? I certainly didn't." Jess teased Sam.

"I'm so sorry Jess." He gently cradled her cheeks and almost shouted in frustration when his hands went straight through her transparent face.

"Hey, none of that. You couldn't have known what would happen when you left." She tried to comfort him and barely a millimeter above his eyebrow her hand made a motion of caressing him.

Sam's chin quivered. "I knew." She'd hate him for sure now.

~*~*~

"Mom." Dean spoke with relief. He could only lightly feel her touch but it was there.

"I'm sorry honey." She slowly dropped her hand from his face, but she kept her eyes locked with his despite her feelings of guilt.

Dean stared at her with confusion. "For what?" He gasped out roughly.

"For the last time we saw each other, at the house." The incident slowly dawned on Dean. "I didn't mean to make you feel like I brushed you off. I only had a few moments to stop the spirit and saving Sam was the most important than. If you had switched places with Sam it would have been the same only with Sam feeling ignored."

Dean nodded and scrubbed his face that was wet with silent tears. That moment hurt more than he admitted. All she did was look at him and say his name. By her expression he knew that she loved him but it didn't stop the pain he experienced when she walked by him and looked at Sam longer than she had him, even said she was sorry to him.

"I get it." He simply said.

"I am so proud of you Dean. You've done so much for this family. More than you should have."

"Mom, I couldn't leave Dad or Sammy." What her tone suggested…it hadn't been an option, not for him.

"Your father was wrong Dean. I love John. I will always love him but if I had been alive—" She pressed her lips together not willing to finish that sentence. "Then again if I had been alive I'd have made damn sure that—" Again she cut off and shook her head in frustration.

"What?"

She tilted her head slightly. "You'll find out all of our family secrets in due time. Believe me you may be a little shocked." Mary chuckled sardonically.

Dean stared at her with confusion. "I don't understand."

"You will…someday. It's important you find out for yourself. Both you and Sam. It's part of your journey together and it's probably the one thing I can't tell you."

"Why not?"

"If I did tell you now there would be some moments in your life that wouldn't happen that need to happen." Mary smiled. "I know it's hard, but you just have to trust me on this."

~*~*~

"You knew what?" Jess spoke softly worried about her former boyfriend.

Sam closed his eyes tightly. Tears stung as he finally told Jess what he should have told her a year ago. "Before you were killed I had been having dreams—nightmares about you being up on the ceiling." He sniffed hard. "I would lie down on the bed and close my eyes then I'd feel something drip on my forehead. I'd look up and there you'd be on the ceiling staring down at me. Then you'd catch on fire."

Jessica crowded him as close as she could. "Sam—Sam."

He shook his head refusing to stop. "God the look you gave me as you stared at me bleeding from your stomach. Like you knew it was my fault you were up there. And it was. Maybe this wouldn't have happened if I had told you before I left…it definitely wouldn't have happened at all if I never went to Stanford if I never left Dad and Dean. You must hate me."

Emotions that he had kept under wraps for months and months were finally being released with her in front of him. She had to know how sorry he was for ever coming into her life and making it so short.

"Samuel Winchester I could never hate you." Jess spoke with such fierceness that Sam believed she was speaking the truth.

"Why not? I do." Sam admitted. He hated himself for not protecting her.

"Sam. How could you have known that your nightmare would come true?"

"Because of what I know. Creatures and monsters exist and I forgot that for a while." Sam swallowed hard and slowed the tears that he didn't realize were flowing so freely down his cheeks.

Jessica stayed quiet until Sam finally looked up at her to see if she had disappeared. When he saw she was still there she spoke. "You were living your life. That's not something to feel sorry about. So you forgot what goes bump in the night, you thought you left that behind you, I don't blame you." She cried out.

Sam again shook his head negatively and Jess screamed in frustration. "And I'm still not getting through to you am I?" She squeezed her hands into fists and after a moment let the tension out. "Nothing, not even my death, has made me stop loving you. Nor has it made me hate you. Unfortunately you don't believe me. You're going to have to look inside you and realize at some point that I'm telling the truth."

Sighing she used the last of her energy and kissed him on the lips. "I love you." She managed before she disappeared.

"No, Jess!" He reached for her but she was gone. "Don't leave me again." He whispered painfully.

~*~*~

"There's another thing you should know." Alex told her, he glanced at Maria once and waited for her approval. When his friend nodded he turned back to a confused Liz. "Agent Pierce is really dead. He's not an alien, he's not one of Kivar's men—"

Liz nervously licked her lips. "He was there. Every day for—," She stopped, they knew how long she'd been there they didn't need to hear it. "It was him." Liz spoke with conviction.

"No honey, it wasn't." Maria argued delicately. "The head of that division wanted to conduct an experiment and in a sense cause more damage. Since you knew Agent Pierce, his face was familiar to you they got one of the aliens they still had in their possession and had him mind-warp you into thinking you saw Pierce."

Alex nodded. "It was another agent that did the torturing." He explained.

"Mind-warp. So there's another alien like Tess or Ava out there?" Liz didn't want to believe it but she knew her friends wouldn't be saying this to her unless they knew for certain.

"Yes. When they let you go he escaped. After that we don't know what happened to him." Alex explained. "We were too concerned about you to worry about the other alien."

Liz pushed her hair back away from her face. "Is there anything you can tell me about him?" If there was a chance to run into the alien that helped put her through that hell she had to know what to expect.

"Not much. We were trying to keep you from breaking and that took up a lot of our energy." Maria explained. "What we do know is that he's not a shape shifter. Not once in that time did his form change. Because of the mind-warp aspect Alex thinks he might be related to Tess in some way but how we don't know. It's possible he's not related, we don't know how Antarian's got certain powers." She told her. "I'm sorry it's not more."

"What did he look like?" Liz asked. At their glances she sighed. "I need to know if I see him again."

"Not that tall, about five feet eight inches, light blonde hair, blue-green eyes, thin…like death-camp thin—"

Liz nodded, "They were torturing him too." Although she hated feeling sympathy for him she had been in his place as well and no one should have to go through that. "What else?"

Maria and Alex told her the rest of what they knew and saw during her time in the custody of the Special Unit. She didn't know what she would do if she ever saw the alien that made her see Pierce, what she thought she would do and what she would ultimately do were two different things.

~*~*~

"I love you Dean." Mary smiled warmly at him. "Now I need to talk to Sam." She pressed a ghostly kiss on his cheek that was only whisper but he felt the love of his mother overwhelmingly.

He watched as Mom made her way over to a crying Sam. He started to go over to him but he'd want to talk to Mom alone.

Dean looked over at Liz who was now talking with the last two of her ghostly group. She stood with her arms crossed and paced in front of the spirits.

~*~*~

"Our time's running short." Alex told Liz. "Know this; we'll always be here with you. Clearly death can not change how close we all are. I love you Liz. You and Maria are my best friends. We stick together."

"Always." Liz nodded.

"You know we'll be around." Maria agreed. "Never know when something will float toward you or you'll feel a gust of wind pass you by where there was no real wind."

"Just promise that you won't interrupt me during a private moment." Liz chuckled.

"I can definitely promise that." Alex said. "Last thing I want is to see you naked or indisposed in any way." He shivered dramatically.

"I'll try but I can't promise anything." Maria teased. "With that one staring at you the way he is, catching you will be better than scrambled porn."

"Shut up." She blushed and sneaked a peek at Dean. He was definitely staring at her.

"Love you Chica." The duo was given a brief surge of energy that allowed them to hug their friend. A moment later they were gone.

"I love you both too." Liz whispered to the empty space hoping they heard her.

~*~*~

Sam and Mary had talked for a few minutes before Mary used her last bit of energy to hug her youngest child. "Listen to Jessica. It wasn't your fault that the demon killed her."

"I don't know if I can ever believe that." Sam told her.

"Someday I hope you do because it's the truth. I love you Sam. And I'm so proud of you." Mary smiled warmly and disappeared from sight.

Sam ran his hand over face wiping away the tears. Could that night get any worse? So much heartache and wounds being reopened, a nice warm bed where he could forget that night looked damn good right then. The only comfort he found was that Jess and Mom told him that they loved him and they believed he was a good person. That would have to do for now.

~*~*~

Liz, Dean and Sam met in middle of the living room. She looked around at the damage inflicted to her home that evening. "Well, this was certainly an entertaining night." Liz gently probed the bump on her head from crashing into the wall.

"You could say that again." Dean agreed. Sam remained quiet.

It was time to leave her home. She'd listen to Max and not waste away in the cabin alone. She couldn't continue to punish herself for the deaths of her friends. "Would you guys mind a guest with you on the road? I can even help with the supernatural part of your lives."

She had her own truck; it'd give her the freedom to leave if she wanted. Plus she had to think of Angel, her dog, she'd need room and she doubted Dean and Sam's car had the room. Not to mention Angel tended to get car sick, it wouldn't be pretty.

"We should be able to work something out." Dean smiled.

TBC


	19. Epilogue

A.N. Hello everyone, well here is the final chapter. I just want to thank everyone who has read and given me feedback. The fic turned out to be a little longer than I originally planned but the characters had a little more to say than I thought. While there are no plans for a sequel that doesn't mean there won't ever be one since I do have a couple ideas for a sequel. And I've left some loose ends so if I do decide on a sequel I'll have some direction. Thank you again for taking this journey with me and I hope everyone enjoys the final chapter.

**Epilogue**

A day later Liz stood outside leaning against a tree staring at the cabin she made her home over the last few years. She took everything in, savoring the memories both good and bad.

Maria, although told her that she probably wouldn't be around for a little while, was still milling about. Just that morning she felt a delicate wind brush across her face and she knew without a doubt that it was Maria.

Off to the side she saw Angel leaping and jumping beside the Impala coming up her drive. Dean and Sam left the cabin to get some food and drinks for the road. She'd be going with them on jobs, hunting demons and helping people.

What Dean called the Yellow Eyed Demon had disappeared. The three of them after their ghostly encounters went in search of the man it had inhabited but couldn't find a trace of him. That meant they could be expecting another visit from it in the future. How far in the future was anyone's guess.

She had no idea what she wanted to do with her life, but she knew that she couldn't stay at the cabin much longer before she went insane. For so long she'd been without much human contact, besides the twice a month visit to the grocery store, it was time to rejoin the world again.

Liz watched as Dean left the car and patted Sam on the back before making his way toward her. Standing up a bit straighter as he got closer she waited till he was within a few steps of her before speaking. "Did you find the store ok?"

"Yea. We passed it on our way here yesterday." He put his hands in his jacket pockets. "Look…"

"Listen…" Liz spoke at the same time. "Sorry." She smirked.

"No it's fine, you first." Dean motioned for her to finish what she was going to say.

"Um," she coughed uncomfortably and exhaled slowly before jumping right in. "Since we're going to be together…on the road I mean, the last thing I wanted was for there to be awkward moments. But as I stand here and think it over I realize that even if I say what I want there might still be tension, so I'm just going to say everything and hope for the best."

Dean nodded slowly. Liz wasn't making much if any sense. Maybe he should stop her before she said something she might regret. Although that was his idea for a brief moment he ceased any action that would stop her. He wanted to know what she was going to say.

Grandma wanted her to live life to the fullest. If she didn't say what had been on her mind she wouldn't be fulfilling her promise. Even if Dean rejected her she wouldn't have hid behind her fear.

"We haven't known each other for long. In fact we haven't known each other twenty-four hours, but despite that I can't help this attraction I have for you." She plowed forward not giving Dean a chance to say a word. "Yesterday the people I cared about most all told me to follow my instincts," she wouldn't say her heart, that seemed far too intimate for only knowing him a day, "and right now those instincts are leading in your direction."

When Dean only continue to nod and not say a word Liz thought the worse but since she had come that far already she might as well go all the way. What did she have to lose? It wasn't like she couldn't separate from them if it got too difficult.

"So, if you want, you and I could get to know each other and see if we could stand each other for more than a few moments." Still Dean remained silent. "Maybe you could say something here so I stop making a complete fool out of myself?"

But he said nothing. "Or not." Immediately Liz started to backtrack and brush it off, she put her hands in her pockets so she didn't slap him for letting her go on like a moron. "Its fine," she saw Sam put the large chest she told him she's bringing into the back of her truck. "I should go help Sam."

As she made her way around him Dean grabbed her wrist and turned her back towards him. In an instant his lips were on hers.

Soft but firm his lips played with hers and butterflies danced wildly in her belly. As the kiss continued and deepened those butterflies calmed but turned into molten lava warming her completely. Boy that man knew how to kiss.

Dean pulled her forward till her body molded against his. His warm hand cupped her cheek, the cool twinge from his ring brought a bit of clarity and she pulled back. "Wait." Her husky voice told of her passion. "What are you doing?"

Liz, who had pressed her hands against his chest only moments ago in pleasure, was now pushing him away gently. Dean breathed in and out deeply. "What you just said—agree with everything." He kept one arm wrapped around her while he motioned with his other.

"And if all that comes out of this are a few nights of great sex?" She teased.

He sighed jokingly like it would be a big burden. "That's something that we'll just have to live with."

Abruptly Dean jumped and pulled back. "What?" Liz questioned.

"Something just pinched my ass." Dean looked around but saw nothing.

"MARIA!" Liz yelled.

Both of them heard a light tinkling laugh brushing by them as the wind moved. "Is she going to be doing that when we have sex?"

"She better not if she knows what's good for her." Liz smirked.

Laughing she rose up on her toes and started kissing him again. Did she love him? No. Would she have fun with him? There was a very good chance of that and that was something she needed then. If the two of them began to move into the more-than-fun and a-few-steps-into-serious category they'd cross that bridge if need be. Until then she'd live in the present and that sounded like a wonderful idea.

The End


End file.
